A little more than twelve months ago at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally given the green light as F1's latest entry for the 2026 season. Establishing the squad from scratch has involved a frenetic pace of work that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the NASA lunar mission. As the sport converges on the Vegas strip this race weekend, Cadillac understand the deadline is approaching.
The Tight Timeline to Australia
At the last event of the season to be held in the United States, with around a hundred days to go before they take to the track for the maiden outing in Australia at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a never-ending task, they are cognizant there will not be sufficient time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, came aboard the nascent team in early 2023 soon after it was created, when the organization were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its core from that point and gets a wry smile when considering the journey.
“You might get a short period looking back at what you’ve done and think: ‘Amazing, how impressive what we have built in less than three years,’” he says. “And then the next minute you think: ‘Yeah, we still have quite a lot to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Opportunity
Chester enjoyed success at the Renault team in the driver Fernando Alonso's victorious years of the mid-2000s and was in charge of technical development at the then-new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but nothing has been quite like the challenge of introducing the iconic American Cadillac brand, a works entry supported by the corporate entity, General Motors Corporation, into F1.
“Building an Formula One team from nothing, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he says. “It's unparalleled. In an well-set team you don’t get the possibility to change cultural approach.”
With every day that passes minds are increasingly concentrated on the impending decisive point in Australia and expectations are being handled.
“You have to assume that any new team coming in is probably going to finish last but simply getting on to the grid will be an accomplishment in itself,” Graeme Lowdon commented this year and while the CTO agreed with this sentiment he felt the squad had a point to prove as well.
“Our primary goal we want to show is that we should be there,” he emphasizes. “So we show up and we function efficiently. We aim to demonstrate that we’re a proper team executing the proper actions on the circuit. When we have demonstrated that our credentials are solid, then we want to show forward movement subsequently.”
Racing Talent and Team Building Push
In the summer they contracted Checo Pérez and Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a duo remarkable for their invaluable experience in performing at the leading positions in two top-tier teams, the Red Bull team and Mercedes-AMG, and the Finnish driver echoed the attitude of determined optimism.
“Naturally, we’re realistic,” he said. “There’s going to be a mountain of work to do, and it’s going to be probably a tough opening, because it's the top level of motorsport. But our goal isn't to finish last. I am confident with this setup, with this group, these personnel, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to advance swiftly to a competitive level and taste victory.”
To realize that ambition recruitment has been in overdrive, with employees now up to more than 400 and intended to attain the objective of 600 members quickly. Alongside their present headquarters at the UK base, the squad are in the midst of completing an headquarters at the Fishers location in Indy and there is the General Motors facility in North Carolina, where they are building the plant to produce the power unit, set for the 2029 season – for now they will use Ferrari power units – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a intricate structure, at odds with the trend in F1 for more centralization, and has prompted the new cultural approach to which the CTO alluded.
NASA Model
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo program,” said Graeme Lowdon just before the British Grand Prix in mid-season. “We are pragmatic, we know how difficult it is. The deadlines, are incredibly tight. Alright, it's not a space expedition, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have implemented, instead of the conventional chain of command, a flat management structure akin to that of Nasa’s, where there were a assortment of specialist groups all working on different aspects of the program across a multiple sites.
“If you have to go through a process where a challenge emerges and they escalate it to their manager, that supervisor communicates with a leader in another department, it is relayed back, the process is very slow,” explains Chester. “So we empower staff to take charge. Avoiding management approval for all decisions is much smoother and quicker.”
What Lies Ahead
The efficacy of this nimble methodology will be tested in the intensity of Grand Prix in 2026 and there is a considerable amount on the line for Formula One, too. Cadillac have signed as their development driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
