A little more than a full year previously at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally given the official approval as Formula One’s most recent entry for 2026. Building the squad from the ground up has entailed a intense work rate that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the NASA lunar mission. As the sport converges on Las Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac know time is getting tight.
The Tight Timeline to Australia
At the last event of the campaign to be staged in the US, with approximately a hundred days to go before they make their debut for the maiden outing in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a never-ending task, they are aware there will never be enough hours in the day.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, came aboard the nascent operation in March 2023 soon after it was created, when the team were without even an approved entry. He has been at its heart from that point and has a amused expression when thinking about the journey.
“There might be a short period looking back at what you’ve done and say: ‘Wow, what an achievement what we have built in a short three-year period,’” he notes. “And then the very next instant you realize: ‘Yes, there is still quite a lot to do.’”
A Unique Opportunity
The CTO achieved victories at the Renault team in Alonso's title-winning campaigns of 2005 and 2006 and was in charge of engineering strategy at the recently formed Mercedes electric racing team, but nothing has been quite like the challenge of launching the quintessentially American Cadillac marque, a factory team backed by the owner, General Motors, into Formula One.
“Establishing an F1 team from the ground up, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” Chester remarks. “There's nothing comparable. In an well-set team you won't have the opportunity to transform team culture.”
With every day that goes by focus are more focused on the impending decisive point in Australia and expectations are being managed.
“It's reasonable to expect that any new team coming in is likely to start at the back but simply getting on to the grid will be an accomplishment in itself,” Graeme Lowdon noted recently and while the CTO shared this view he believed the squad had a point to prove as well.
“The first thing we want to show is that we should be there,” Chester explains. “So that we show up and we operate well. We want to show that we are a serious contender doing the right things on the circuit. Once we prove that our credentials are solid, then we will focus on forward movement subsequently.”
Racing Talent and Recruitment Effort
In the summer they recruited Sergio Pérez and Bottas as their racers for 2026, a pair notable for their priceless expertise in performing at the leading positions in two top-tier teams, Red Bull and the Mercedes team, and Bottas reflected the attitude of fighting spirit.
“Of course, we have a realistic outlook,” he said. “We face a massive task to do, and it will likely be probably a tough opening, because it is F1. But our goal isn't to remain at the rear. I am confident with this structure, with this team, these personnel, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to progress rapidly to the front and enjoy some success.”
To realize that ambition staff acquisition has been in full swing, with staff now reaching in excess of 400 and intended to attain the target of 600 members quickly. Complementing their current base at the UK base, the organization are in the process of building an HQ at Fishers, Indiana in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are constructing the center to produce the new engine, scheduled for 2029 – until then they will operate with Ferrari power units – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Germany. It is a complex organisation, contrary to the movement in the sport for more centralization, and has led to the innovative team culture to which the CTO referred to.
Apollo Blueprint
“It's closely based on the Apollo project,” remarked Graeme Lowdon shortly before the British GP in mid-season. “We’re realistic, we recognize how difficult it is. The deadlines, are extremely compressed. OK, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have implemented, rather than the traditional management structure, a flat management structure comparable to that of the space agency's, where there were a range of project teams all tackling various components of the program across a different facilities.
“If you have to go through a procedure where someone has a problem and they escalate it to their manager, that manager talks to a leader in another department, it goes back down the chain, the process is very slow,” explains Nick Chester. “So we empower people to handle things directly. Moving away from management approval for everything is so much cleaner and faster.”
What Lies Ahead
The effectiveness of this agile methodology will be proven in the heat of competition in 2026 and there is a significant degree riding on this for F1, too. Cadillac have signed as their development driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
