Just over a full year previously at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally awarded the green light as the world of Formula One's newest entrant for 2026. Building the squad from scratch has involved a hectic pace of work that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo program. As the sport arrives on Las Vegas this race weekend, the team understand the deadline is approaching.
The Countdown to Australia
At the final race of the campaign to be held in the United States, with just over a hundred days to go before they hit the circuit for the inaugural time in Melbourne at the first race of 2026, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a never-ending task, they are conscious there will never be adequate time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, became part of the newly formed team in early 2023 soon after it was created, when the team were without even an official entry. He has been at its center since then and enjoys a wry smile when reflecting on the ride.
“You can have a short period looking back at what the team has achieved and say: ‘Wow, how impressive what we’ve done in under three years,’” he notes. “Then the next minute you realize: ‘Yeah, there is still a great deal to do.’”
An Unprecedented Task
Nick Chester had success at Renault in the driver Fernando Alonso's title-winning campaigns of 2005 and 2006 and was in control of technical development at the new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no other project has been quite like the mission of bringing the all-American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the parent company, General Motors, into F1.
“Building an F1 team from scratch, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he says. “It is like nothing else. In an established team you rarely get the possibility to change organizational mindset.”
With each passing day that goes by focus are more focused on the looming moment of truth in Australia and targets are being set realistically.
“It's reasonable to expect that any incoming team coming in is likely to start at the back but merely participating will be an achievement in itself,” the team principal commented this year and while the CTO agreed with this sentiment he thought the organization had a reputation to build as well.
“The first thing we intend to prove is that we belong on the grid,” he says. “So that we show up and we function efficiently. We aim to demonstrate that we are a serious contender doing the proper actions on the race track. When we prove that our credentials are solid, then we want to show improvement after that.”
Driver Lineup and Team Building Drive
In August they signed Sergio Pérez and Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a duo remarkable for their vast knowledge in operating at the sharp end in two championship-winning squads, the Red Bull team and Mercedes-AMG, and Bottas echoed the mood of determined optimism.
“Of course, we have a realistic outlook,” he commented. “There’s going to be a massive task to do, and it’s going to be almost certainly a challenging beginning, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we aren't joining to remain at the rear. I believe with this structure, with these individuals, this staff, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to advance swiftly to a competitive level and taste victory.”
To realize that ambition hiring has been in full swing, with employees now up to in excess of 400 and intended to reach the goal of 600 quickly. In addition to their current base at Silverstone, the squad are in the midst of completing an HQ at Fishers, Indiana in Indy and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are developing the facility to build the 2029 engine, set for 2029 – in the meantime they will run Ferrari power units – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne. It is a intricate organization, at odds with the direction in the sport for more centralization, and has inspired the fresh organizational mindset to which Nick Chester referred.
NASA Model
“It's closely based on the NASA moon mission,” stated the team principal shortly before the British GP in July. “We’re realistic, we recognize how difficult it is. The timelines, are extremely compressed. Alright, it's not a space expedition, but it can seem that way.”
So they have embraced, as opposed to the conventional chain of command, a flat management structure similar to that of the space agency's, where there were a range of Apollo teams all working on distinct elements of the program in a variety of locations.
“If you have to go through a procedure where an issue arises and they escalate it to their supervisor, that leader communicates with a leader at a different location, it travels back down, the process is very slow,” says Nick Chester. “We give authority to people to handle things directly. Moving away from hierarchical consent for each action is so much cleaner and more rapid.”
What Lies Ahead
The effectiveness of this nimble methodology will be evaluated in the heat of competition next season and there is no little amount riding on this for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their test driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta
