A little more than a full year previously at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were at last granted the official approval as F1's newest entry for 2026. Building the organization from the ground up has involved a hectic work rate that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo moon landing. As the sport converges on Las Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac know the clock is ticking.
The Race Against Time to Australia
At the season finale of the season to be held in the United States, with just over 100 days to go before they make their debut for the maiden outing in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a never-ending endeavor, they are aware there will not be enough hours in the day.
The CTO, Nick Chester, came aboard the nascent project in March 2023 shortly after it was formed, when the squad were without even an official entry. He has been at its center ever since and has a knowing grin when considering the experience.
“You might get a short period looking back at what the team has achieved and say: ‘Incredible, isn’t this fantastic what the team has created in under three years,’” he says. “Then the very next instant you realize: ‘Well, there is still a great deal to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Opportunity
Chester had success at the Renault team in Alonso's victorious campaigns of 2005 and 2006 and was in control of technical development at the new Mercedes electric racing team, but nothing has been quite like the challenge of bringing the iconic American Cadillac brand, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the corporate entity, General Motors Corporation, into F1.
“Creating an grand prix team from nothing, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he says. “There's nothing comparable. In an existing team you rarely get the opportunity to transform cultural approach.”
With each day that passes focus are more focused on the approaching decisive point in Melbourne and goals are being managed.
“You have to assume that any incoming team coming in is probably going to finish last but just making it to the starting line will be an achievement in itself,” the team principal stated this year and while Chester agreed with this sentiment he thought the squad had a statement to make as well.
“The initial objective we aim to demonstrate is that we belong on the grid,” Chester explains. “In order that we turn up and we operate well. We aim to demonstrate that we are a serious contender doing the correct procedures on the circuit. Once we’ve shown that we’re really credible, then we aim to demonstrate progression after that.”
Racing Talent and Hiring Push
In the summer they recruited Checo Pérez and Bottas as their drivers for the 2026 season, a duo remarkable for their invaluable experience in competing at the leading positions in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull and Mercedes-AMG, and Bottas reflected the sentiment of determined optimism.
“Certainly, we are pragmatic,” Bottas stated. “We have a massive task to do, and it will likely be probably a difficult start, because it's the top level of motorsport. But our goal isn't to finish last. I believe with this structure, with this group, these personnel, there’s no reason why we can't manage to advance swiftly to a competitive level and taste victory.”
To realize that ambition staff acquisition has been in overdrive, with employees now up to over 400 and scheduled to attain the goal of 600 members rapidly. Alongside their present headquarters at the Silverstone circuit, the squad are in the midst of finishing an main base at Fishers in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM works in North Carolina, where they are building the plant to manufacture the power unit, scheduled for the 2029 season – for now they will use Ferrari power units – and the aerodynamic facility in Germany. It is a sophisticated organization, different from the direction in F1 for greater centralisation, and has led to the new cultural approach to which the CTO referred to.
NASA Inspiration
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo project,” said Graeme Lowdon shortly before the British GP in July. “We are pragmatic, we understand how tough it is. The deadlines, they’re super, super, super short. Well, it's not a space expedition, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have implemented, as opposed to the usual hierarchical system, a decentralized management comparable to that of Nasa’s, where there were a variety of specialist groups all tackling various components of the mission across a variety of locations.
“When you must follow a procedure where someone has a problem and they escalate it to their supervisor, that manager talks to a supervisor somewhere else, it travels back down, it’s super slow,” notes Chester. “Therefore we enable team members to handle things directly. Eliminating hierarchical consent for everything is so much cleaner and quicker.”
The Future
The effectiveness of this agile methodology will be tested in the heat of competition in 2026 and there is a significant degree at stake for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their development driver the young Californian Colton Herta
