Approximately a full year ago at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were at last given the green light as the world of Formula One's most recent entry for 2026. Constructing the squad from scratch has involved a hectic pace of work that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the NASA lunar mission. As Formula One descends on the Vegas strip this race weekend, Cadillac are aware the clock is ticking.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the season finale of the championship to be held in the United States, with approximately 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 sisyphean task, they are conscious there will never be sufficient time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, became part of the embryonic operation in the spring of 2023 shortly after it was formed, when the team were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its center since then and enjoys a wry smile when thinking about the experience.
“There might be a short period thinking back at what you’ve done and think: ‘Incredible, how impressive what we have built in a short three-year period,’” Chester states. “But then the following moment you realize: ‘Well, we’ve still got a significant amount to do.’”
A Unique Task
Chester enjoyed success at Renault in Alonso's championship-winning years of 2005/2006 and was in charge of technical development at the then-new Mercedes Formula E team, but no other project has quite compared with the mission of bringing the iconic American Cadillac marque, a works entry backed by the parent company, GM, into F1.
“Establishing an grand prix team from scratch, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he observes. “There's nothing comparable. In an well-set team you rarely get the possibility to change team culture.”
With every day that elapses focus are increasingly concentrated on the looming critical moment in the Australian GP and goals are being set realistically.
“One must presume that a brand-new squad entering the sport is likely to start at the back but just making it to the starting line will be an feat in itself,” the team principal noted earlier this year and while Nick Chester echoed this he thought the squad had a point to prove as well.
“Our primary goal we want to show is that we deserve to be there,” Chester explains. “So we arrive and we function efficiently. We aim to demonstrate that we’re a proper team doing the correct procedures on the race track. Once we prove that we’re really credible, then we aim to demonstrate progression from there on.”
Racing Talent and Recruitment Effort
In late summer they recruited Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their racers for 2026, a tandem remarkable for their invaluable experience in competing at the sharp end in two top-tier teams, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes, and Valtteri Bottas expressed the mood of determined optimism.
“Certainly, we’re realistic,” he said. “We have a huge amount of work to do, and it’s going to be probably a difficult start, because it is F1. But we’re not there to finish last. I am confident given this organization, with these individuals, these people, there is every reason that we won't be able to get relatively quickly to a competitive level and enjoy some success.”
To realize that ambition recruitment has been in overdrive, with employees now up to in excess of 400 and intended to attain the goal of 600 members swiftly. Complementing their present headquarters at Silverstone, the organization are in the midst of building an main base at Fishers in the Indianapolis area and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are developing the facility to produce the new engine, planned for 2029 – until then they will run Ferrari engines – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Germany. It is a intricate organization, contrary to the direction in the sport for greater centralisation, and has led to the new cultural approach to which Chester alluded.
NASA Model
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo project,” stated the team principal ahead of the British Grand Prix in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we understand how challenging it is. The deadlines, are extremely compressed. Well, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have implemented, as opposed to the usual hierarchical system, a flat management structure akin to that of the space agency's, where there were a variety of project teams all tackling distinct elements of the project at a multiple sites.
“If you have to go through a process where someone has a problem and they raise it up to their supervisor, that leader talks to a leader somewhere else, it is relayed back, the process is very slow,” notes Nick Chester. “We give authority to people to handle things directly. Moving away from managerial sign-off for all decisions is far more efficient and more rapid.”
What Lies Ahead
The efficacy of this flexible approach will be tested in the heat of competition next season and there is a considerable amount riding on this for F1, too. Cadillac have signed as their test driver the young American Colton Herta
