A little more than one year ago at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were at last granted the go-ahead as F1's most recent participant for the 2026 season. Constructing the squad from scratch has entailed a intense pace of work that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo moon landing. As F1 converges on Las Vegas this race weekend, the team are aware the clock is ticking.
The Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the last event of the championship to be held in the United States, with just over 100 days to go before they make their debut for the first time in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a monumental task, they are conscious there will not be adequate time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, became part of the newly formed project in early 2023 not long after it was established, when the organization were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its heart ever since and has a knowing grin when thinking about the ride.
“There might be a brief moment thinking back at what you have accomplished and say: ‘Incredible, what an achievement what the team has created in a short three-year period,’” Chester states. “And then the next minute you think: ‘Yes, there is still a great deal to do.’”
An Unprecedented Opportunity
Chester achieved victories at Renault in Alonso's victorious seasons of 2005/2006 and was in command of technical development at the new Mercedes Formula E team, but no other project has quite compared with the challenge of bringing the all-American Cadillac brand, a manufacturer-backed entry backed by the owner, General Motors, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Building an F1 team from the ground up, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he observes. “There's nothing comparable. In an well-set team you won't have the possibility to change team culture.”
With every day that goes by minds are sharper on the impending critical moment in Melbourne and targets are being handled.
“It's reasonable to expect that a brand-new squad joining the grid is going to be last but merely participating will be an achievement in itself,” Lowdon stated this year and while Chester agreed with this sentiment he believed the squad had a point to prove as well.
“Our primary goal we aim to demonstrate is that we deserve to be there,” he emphasizes. “In order that we show up and we operate well. We want to show that we’re a proper team executing the proper actions on the race track. After we have demonstrated that our credentials are solid, then we want to show progression after that.”
Driver Lineup and Recruitment Effort
In late summer they signed Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a duo remarkable for their invaluable experience in operating at the leading positions in two top-tier teams, the Red Bull team and Mercedes, and the Finnish driver reflected the mood of fighting spirit.
“Certainly, we’re realistic,” he commented. “We face a massive task to do, and it will likely be probably a tough opening, because it is F1. But we aren't joining to remain at the rear. I believe with this structure, with these individuals, these people, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to get relatively quickly to a competitive level and achieve good results.”
To that end recruitment has been in overdrive, with employees now reaching in excess of 400 and intended to reach the objective of 600 quickly. Complementing their current base at the UK base, the squad are in the midst of completing an HQ at the Fishers location in the Indianapolis area and there is the General Motors facility in North Carolina, where they are constructing the facility to produce the 2029 engine, set for 2029 – for now they will run power from Ferrari – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a intricate structure, contrary to the direction in the sport for greater centralisation, and has inspired the innovative team culture to which the CTO alluded.
NASA Model
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo program,” remarked Graeme Lowdon ahead of the British GP in mid-season. “We have a clear-eyed view, we know how tough it is. The schedules, are incredibly tight. OK, it's not a space expedition, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have adopted, as opposed to the conventional chain of command, a non-hierarchical approach similar to that of Nasa’s, where there were a range of specialist groups all tackling distinct elements of the mission across a multiple sites.
“If you have to go through a procedure where someone has a problem and they escalate it to their supervisor, that supervisor consults a leader in another department, it goes back down the chain, the process is very slow,” explains the CTO. “So we empower staff to really get on with it. Eliminating management approval for everything is much smoother and quicker.”
What Lies Ahead
The effectiveness of this agile methodology will be evaluated in the pressure of racing when the season begins and there is no little amount at stake for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their development driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta
