A little more than one year previously at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately granted the go-ahead as F1's newest entry for the 2026 season. Establishing the team from nothing has involved a hectic operating tempo that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the NASA lunar mission. As F1 converges on Las Vegas this weekend, the team are aware time is getting tight.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the last event of the campaign to be held in the America, with around a hundred days to go before they hit the circuit for the first time in Australia at the first race of 2026, the Cadillac F1 project have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a sisyphean task, they are cognizant there will never be adequate time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, became part of the nascent operation in early 2023 not long after it was established, when the squad were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its center from that point and enjoys a amused expression when thinking about the journey.
“There might be five minutes looking back at what the team has achieved and go: ‘Wow, how impressive what the team has created in a short three-year period,’” he notes. “And then the next minute you realize: ‘Well, we still have a great deal to do.’”
A Unique Task
Nick Chester achieved victories at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s championship-winning seasons of 2005 and 2006 and was in command of technical direction at the then-new Mercedes Formula E team, but nothing has truly matched the mission of introducing the quintessentially American Cadillac brand, a factory team supported by the corporate entity, General Motors Corporation, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Establishing an grand prix team from nothing, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he says. “There's nothing comparable. In an well-set team you won't have the opportunity to alter team culture.”
With each passing day that passes thoughts are more focused on the impending critical moment in Australia and expectations are being managed.
“You have to assume that any incoming team joining the grid is probably going to finish last but merely participating will be an feat in itself,” Lowdon stated this year and while Nick Chester echoed this he believed the squad had a point to prove as well.
“Our primary goal we want to show is that we belong on the grid,” he emphasizes. “In order that we turn up and we function efficiently. We seek to prove that we are a serious contender executing the right things on the track. When we prove that we’re really credible, then we want to show progression from there on.”
Pilot Selection and Team Building Push
In late summer they contracted Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a duo remarkable for their priceless expertise in competing at the front in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull and the Mercedes team, and Valtteri Bottas reflected the attitude of fighting spirit.
“Certainly, we’re realistic,” Bottas stated. “There’s going to be a mountain of work to do, and it will likely be most likely a tough opening, because it is F1. But we’re not there to finish last. I believe with this structure, with this team, these personnel, it's entirely possible we won't be able to get relatively quickly up to the pace and enjoy some success.”
To realize that ambition hiring has been in full swing, with employees now reaching more than 400 and planned to hit the target of 600 swiftly. In addition to their existing facility at Silverstone, the organization are in the phase of finishing an HQ at Fishers in Indy and there is the GM plant in North Carolina, where they are developing the plant to build the new engine, scheduled for the 2029 season – until then they will run power from Ferrari – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne, Germany. It is a sophisticated structure, contrary to the direction in the sport for greater centralisation, and has led to the innovative team culture to which the CTO referred.
Space Mission Inspiration
“It's closely based on the Apollo project,” remarked Lowdon shortly before the British GP in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we recognize how challenging it is. The timelines, they’re super, super, super short. Alright, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have adopted, as opposed to the usual hierarchical system, a non-hierarchical approach akin to that of NASA's, where there were a variety of Apollo teams all working on various components of the mission at a multiple sites.
“If you have to go through a process where an issue arises and they raise it up to their supervisor, that supervisor communicates with a manager at a different location, it goes back down the chain, the process is very slow,” says the CTO. “We give authority to team members to handle things directly. Avoiding management approval for all decisions is far more efficient and quicker.”
Upcoming Challenges
The success of this flexible strategy will be evaluated in the heat of competition next season and there is a significant degree at stake for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their reserve driver the young American Colton Herta
