A little more than twelve months ago at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally awarded the go-ahead as F1's newest participant for 2026. Constructing the team from nothing has involved a frenetic work rate that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo program. As F1 converges on Vegas this weekend, Cadillac understand time is getting tight.
The Tight Timeline to Melbourne
At the season finale of the campaign to be hosted in the US, with approximately three months to go before they take to the track for the inaugural time in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a sisyphean challenge, they are aware there will not be enough hours in the day.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, joined the nascent team in early 2023 not long after it was formed, when the team were without even an official entry. He has been at its heart from that point and enjoys a amused expression when reflecting on the ride.
“You can have five minutes thinking back at what you’ve done and go: ‘Wow, isn’t this fantastic what we’ve done in a short three-year period,’” he notes. “But then the following moment you think: ‘Yes, there is still a significant amount to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Challenge
The CTO enjoyed success at the Renault team in Alonso's championship-winning years of the mid-2000s and was in charge of technical direction at the then-new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but nothing has truly matched the challenge of launching the all-American Cadillac brand, a manufacturer-backed entry sponsored by the owner, General Motors Corporation, into F1.
“Creating an F1 team from nothing, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he says. “It's unparalleled. In an established team you don’t get the chance to change cultural approach.”
With each passing day that elapses focus are increasingly concentrated on the approaching moment of truth in Melbourne and goals are being handled.
“One must presume that any incoming team entering the sport is probably going to finish last but merely participating will be an accomplishment in itself,” the team principal commented recently and while Nick Chester shared this view he felt the organization had a point to prove as well.
“Our primary goal we aim to demonstrate is that we deserve to be there,” he says. “In order that we show up and we operate well. We seek to prove that we are a serious contender doing the correct procedures on the circuit. When we prove that we’re really credible, then we aim to demonstrate improvement subsequently.”
Racing Talent and Recruitment Drive
In August they contracted Sergio Perez and Bottas as their pilots for 2026, a pair notable for their invaluable experience in performing at the leading positions in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes-AMG, and Bottas expressed the mood of combative optimism.
“Of course, we’re realistic,” Bottas stated. “We have a massive task to do, and we expect almost certainly a tough opening, because it is F1. But our goal isn't to finish last. I believe with this structure, with this team, this staff, there’s no reason why we won't be able to advance swiftly to a competitive level and enjoy some success.”
To realize that ambition hiring has been in full swing, with personnel now at in excess of 400 and planned to hit the target of six hundred swiftly. Complementing their existing facility at the UK base, the organization are in the midst of building an headquarters at Fishers in Indy and there is the GM works in North Carolina, where they are building the facility to build the new engine, planned for 2029 – for now they will operate with Ferrari power units – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Germany. It is a complex structure, different from the direction in the sport for increased consolidation, and has led to the new cultural approach to which Chester alluded.
Space Mission Inspiration
“It's closely based on the Apollo project,” said Graeme Lowdon just before the Silverstone race in the summer. “We are pragmatic, we understand how difficult it is. The timelines, they’re super, super, super short. Alright, it's not a space expedition, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have adopted, instead of the conventional chain of command, a decentralized management akin to that of the space agency's, where there were a range of project teams all tackling different aspects of the project across a variety of locations.
“In a system where you follow a process where a challenge emerges and they report it to their team leader, that leader communicates with a supervisor in another department, it travels back down, it’s super slow,” explains Chester. “Therefore we enable people to handle things directly. Avoiding management approval for each action is much smoother and quicker.”
What Lies Ahead
The effectiveness of this nimble strategy will be tested in the heat of competition when the season begins and there is a considerable amount at stake for F1, too. Cadillac have signed as their reserve driver the young American Colton Herta
