Approximately a full year ago at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally awarded the official approval as Formula One’s most recent entrant for the 2026 season. Building the team from scratch has involved a hectic work rate that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo moon landing. As F1 converges on the Vegas strip this weekend, the team are aware the deadline is approaching.
The Race Against Time to Australia
At the last event of the championship to be held in the America, with approximately 100 days to go before they make their debut for the maiden outing in Australia at the 2026 opener, the Cadillac F1 project have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a never-ending endeavor, they are cognizant there will not be adequate time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, came aboard the nascent project in the spring of 2023 not long after it was formed, when the organization were without even an official entry. He has been at its center ever since and has a amused expression when thinking about the ride.
“You might get a short period looking back at what the team has achieved and go: ‘Incredible, isn’t this fantastic what we’ve done in under three years,’” Chester states. “Then the next minute you consider: ‘Yes, we’ve still got a significant amount to do.’”
A Unique Challenge
The CTO had success at Renault in Alonso's victorious years of 2005 and 2006 and was in control of technical development at the recently formed Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no previous experience has been quite like the task of bringing the iconic American Cadillac marque, a manufacturer-backed entry backed by the parent company, General Motors, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Establishing an Formula One team from the ground up, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he observes. “It's unparalleled. In an established team you rarely get the chance to transform team culture.”
With each day that passes focus are sharper on the looming critical moment in Australia and expectations are being managed.
“You have to assume that any new team joining the grid is likely to start at the back but just making it to the starting line will be an achievement in itself,” Lowdon commented recently and while Nick Chester shared this view he felt the team had a point to prove as well.
“Our primary goal we want to show is that we deserve to be there,” Chester explains. “In order that we show up and we operate well. We seek to prove that we are a serious contender performing the proper actions on the race track. Once we prove that we are a legitimate team, then we aim to demonstrate improvement subsequently.”
Pilot Selection and Recruitment Drive
In late summer they contracted Sergio Perez and Bottas as their pilots for 2026, a duo notable for their vast knowledge in competing at the leading positions in two top-tier teams, Red Bull and the Mercedes team, and the Finnish driver reflected the attitude of determined optimism.
“Of course, we are pragmatic,” Bottas stated. “There’s going to be a massive task to do, and it will likely be almost certainly a difficult start, because this is Formula One. But we aren't joining to finish last. I believe with this setup, with this group, this staff, there’s no reason why we can't manage to progress rapidly up to the pace and enjoy some success.”
To realize that ambition recruitment has been in full swing, with staff now reaching in excess of 400 and planned to attain the goal of 600 swiftly. Complementing their current base at the UK base, the team are in the phase of completing an main base at Fishers, Indiana in Indianapolis and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are constructing the center to produce the 2029 engine, scheduled for the 2029 season – until then they will use Ferrari engines – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a intricate structure, at odds with the movement in F1 for more centralization, and has inspired the innovative team culture to which Chester referred to.
Space Mission Blueprint
“It's closely based on the NASA moon mission,” stated Graeme Lowdon shortly before the British Grand Prix in the summer. “We have a clear-eyed view, we know how challenging it is. The deadlines, they’re super, super, super short. Well, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have adopted, as opposed to the usual hierarchical system, a flat management structure similar to that of the space agency's, where there were a variety of project teams all focusing on various components of the project across a different facilities.
“In a system where you follow a procedure where an issue arises and they report it to their supervisor, that leader consults a leader at a different location, it travels back down, the process is very slow,” says the CTO. “We give authority to people to handle things directly. Moving away from managerial sign-off for all decisions is so much cleaner and faster.”
What Lies Ahead
The success of this agile strategy will be tested in the heat of competition when the season begins and there is a significant degree on the line for F1, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their test driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta
