Approximately a full year in the past at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately awarded the go-ahead as F1's latest entrant for the 2026 season. Establishing the organization from scratch has involved a hectic work rate that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo program. As the sport converges on Las Vegas this weekend, the team are aware time is getting tight.
The Tight Timeline to Melbourne
At the last event of the season to be hosted in the US, with approximately a hundred days to go before they take to the track for the inaugural time in Melbourne at the first race of 2026, the Cadillac F1 project have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a never-ending task, they are aware there will not be enough hours in the day.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, became part of the embryonic team in early 2023 shortly after it was established, when the squad were without even an approved entry. He has been at its heart since then and has a wry smile when reflecting on the journey.
“There might be a short period thinking back at what you have accomplished and go: ‘Amazing, how impressive what we have built in a short three-year period,’” he notes. “And then the next minute you think: ‘Yes, there is still quite a lot to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Task
Nick Chester had success at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s victorious campaigns of 2005/2006 and was in charge of technical direction at the then-new Mercedes electric racing team, but no other project has quite compared with the mission of introducing the iconic American Cadillac brand, a works entry supported by the parent company, General Motors, into Formula One.
“Establishing an grand prix team from the ground up, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” Chester remarks. “It is like nothing else. In an existing team you won't have the opportunity to transform cultural approach.”
With each day that goes by minds are sharper on the looming critical moment in the Australian GP and goals are being set realistically.
“It's reasonable to expect that any new team entering the sport is likely to start at the back but simply getting on to the grid will be an achievement in itself,” Graeme Lowdon commented recently and while the CTO echoed this he thought the organization had a reputation to build as well.
“The initial objective we want to show is that we should be there,” Chester explains. “In order that we arrive and we perform competently. We seek to prove that this is a professional operation doing the proper actions on the circuit. After we have demonstrated that we are a legitimate team, then we will focus on progression subsequently.”
Driver Lineup and Hiring Effort
In the summer they recruited Sergio Perez and Valtteri as their drivers for the 2026 season, a tandem notable for their vast knowledge in competing at the front in two top-tier teams, Red Bull and Mercedes-AMG, and Valtteri Bottas reflected the mood of fighting spirit.
“Naturally, we are pragmatic,” he commented. “We have a massive task to do, and we expect most likely a difficult start, because it is F1. But our goal isn't to remain at the rear. I believe given this organization, with these individuals, this staff, it's entirely possible we can't manage to advance swiftly to a competitive level and enjoy some success.”
To that end hiring has been in full swing, with staff now up to more than 400 and planned to reach the target of six hundred swiftly. Complementing their present headquarters at the UK base, the organization are in the midst of completing an main base at the Fishers location in Indianapolis and there is the GM works in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are developing the facility to produce the 2029 engine, set for the 2029 season – until then they will operate with power from Ferrari – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a sophisticated organization, at odds with the direction in Formula One for increased consolidation, and has prompted the innovative team culture to which Nick Chester referred.
Space Mission Inspiration
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo project,” said Graeme Lowdon ahead of the Silverstone race in July. “We’re realistic, we recognize how tough it is. The deadlines, they’re super, super, super short. OK, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have embraced, instead of the usual hierarchical system, a flat management structure comparable to that of Nasa’s, where there were a assortment of specialist groups all tackling different aspects of the program in a variety of locations.
“If you have to go through a protocol where someone has a problem and they raise it up to their supervisor, that manager consults a manager at a different location, it is relayed back, it’s super slow,” says Nick Chester. “We give authority to people to handle things directly. Moving away from hierarchical consent for everything is far more efficient and faster.”
Upcoming Challenges
The success of this agile approach will be proven in the intensity of Grand Prix when the season begins and there is a considerable amount on the line for the sport, too. Cadillac have recruited as their test driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
