Just over twelve months ago at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally granted the official approval as Formula One’s newest entry for 2026. Establishing the squad from nothing has involved a hectic operating tempo that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the NASA lunar mission. As Formula One converges on the Vegas strip this weekend, Cadillac are aware the clock is ticking.
The Tight Timeline to Melbourne
At the season finale of the season to be hosted in the US, with around a hundred days to go before they hit the circuit for the first time in Melbourne at the first race of 2026, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a monumental endeavor, they are cognizant there will never be sufficient time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, joined the newly formed project in March 2023 soon after it was formed, when the squad were without even an official entry. He has been at its heart ever since and has a amused expression when reflecting on the ride.
“There might be five minutes looking back at what you have accomplished and say: ‘Amazing, isn’t this fantastic what we have built in a short three-year period,’” he notes. “But then the very next instant you think: ‘Yeah, there is still a significant amount to do.’”
A Unique Opportunity
The CTO had success at the Renault team in Alonso's title-winning campaigns of 2005/2006 and was in charge of technical development at the new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no previous experience has been quite like the challenge of launching the quintessentially American Cadillac brand, a factory team sponsored by the parent company, General Motors, into Formula One.
“Establishing an Formula One team from nothing, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he says. “It is like nothing else. In an well-set team you don’t get the chance to transform organizational mindset.”
With each day that passes focus are increasingly concentrated on the approaching decisive point in the Australian GP and targets are being set realistically.
“You have to assume that a brand-new squad coming in is probably going to finish last but merely participating will be an feat in itself,” the team principal commented recently and while Chester shared this view he felt the team had a point to prove as well.
“The first thing we want to show is that we deserve to be there,” he emphasizes. “So we arrive and we operate well. We seek to prove that this is a professional operation doing the proper actions on the circuit. When we have demonstrated that we are a legitimate team, then we will focus on forward movement subsequently.”
Racing Talent and Team Building Effort
In the summer they signed Checo Pérez and Bottas as their pilots for 2026, a pair distinguished for their priceless expertise in operating at the sharp end in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull Racing and the Mercedes team, and the Finnish driver reflected the sentiment of combative optimism.
“Of course, we’re realistic,” he said. “There’s going to be a mountain of work to do, and we expect most likely a tough opening, because this is Formula One. But we’re not there to stay at the back. In my view with this structure, with this team, this staff, there’s no reason why we won't be able to advance swiftly up to the pace and enjoy some success.”
To realize that ambition staff acquisition has been in overdrive, with staff now reaching in excess of 400 and planned to attain the target of six hundred rapidly. Alongside their existing facility at the UK base, the team are in the midst of building an HQ at Fishers in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM works in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are developing the facility to manufacture the 2029 engine, scheduled for 2029 – in the meantime they will run Ferrari power units – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Germany. It is a intricate organization, at odds with the trend in F1 for more centralization, and has led to the fresh organizational mindset to which the CTO referred to.
NASA Inspiration
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo program,” remarked Graeme Lowdon ahead of the British GP in July. “We are pragmatic, we know how tough it is. The schedules, are extremely compressed. Alright, it's not a space expedition, but it can seem that way.”
So they have adopted, instead of the conventional chain of command, a flat management structure similar to that of NASA's, where there were a variety of project teams all working on various components of the project in a different facilities.
“If you have to go through a procedure where an issue arises and they raise it up to their manager, that supervisor communicates with a supervisor at a different location, it goes back down the chain, it’s super slow,” notes the CTO. “We give authority to team members to handle things directly. Moving away from management approval for everything is far more efficient and quicker.”
What Lies Ahead
The efficacy of this nimble approach will be tested in the pressure of racing next season and there is a considerable amount riding on this for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their test driver the young American Colton Herta
