A little more than a full year in the past at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately awarded the official approval as F1's latest entrant for the 2026 season. Building the team from scratch has involved a frenetic pace of work that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo program. As Formula One converges on Las Vegas this weekend, the team know the clock is ticking.
The Countdown to Australia
At the final race of the season to be hosted in the United States, with just over three months to go before they make their debut for the inaugural time in Australia at the 2026 opener, the Cadillac F1 project have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a never-ending task, they are cognizant there will not be enough hours in the day.
The CTO, Nick Chester, joined the embryonic project in the spring of 2023 soon after it was created, when the squad were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its heart ever since and gets a wry smile when reflecting on the journey.
“There might be a brief moment thinking back at what the team has achieved and say: ‘Incredible, isn’t this fantastic what the team has created in a short three-year period,’” Chester states. “And then the very next instant you consider: ‘Well, there is still a significant amount to do.’”
An Unprecedented Challenge
Nick Chester enjoyed success at Renault in Alonso's championship-winning years of 2005 and 2006 and was in command of technical development at the recently formed Mercedes Formula E team, but no previous experience has truly matched the challenge of bringing the iconic American Cadillac name, a factory team sponsored by the owner, GM, into F1.
“Creating an Formula One team from nothing, 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 chance to change cultural approach.”
With every day that elapses thoughts are sharper on the approaching moment of truth in Australia and goals are being managed.
“One must presume that a brand-new squad coming in is likely to start at the back but simply getting on to the grid will be an accomplishment in itself,” Graeme Lowdon commented this year and while Chester shared this view he believed the squad had a statement to make as well.
“Our primary goal we want to show is that we deserve to be there,” Chester explains. “In order that we arrive and we perform competently. We want to show that we’re a proper team executing the correct procedures on the race track. After we prove that we’re really credible, then we aim to demonstrate improvement after that.”
Driver Lineup and Team Building Effort
In late summer they signed Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a duo distinguished for their priceless expertise in competing at the sharp end in two top-tier teams, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes, and Bottas echoed the mood of fighting spirit.
“Certainly, we’re realistic,” Bottas stated. “We face a massive task to do, and it will likely be most likely a difficult start, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we aren't joining to remain at the rear. I am confident with this structure, with this group, these people, there’s no reason why we can't manage to get relatively quickly to a competitive level and achieve good results.”
To realize that ambition recruitment has been in top gear, with personnel now up to over 400 and intended to reach the goal of 600 quickly. Alongside their current base at the Silverstone circuit, the organization are in the phase of finishing an main base at Fishers in Indianapolis and there is the GM works in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are building the plant to build the new engine, set for the 2029 season – until then they will run Ferrari power units – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne. It is a sophisticated structure, at odds with the movement in F1 for increased consolidation, and has led to the fresh organizational mindset to which the CTO referred.
Space Mission Blueprint
“It’s highly modelled on the NASA moon mission,” remarked the team principal shortly before the Silverstone race in the summer. “We are pragmatic, we know how challenging it is. The schedules, are extremely compressed. Alright, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it can seem that way.”
So they have embraced, rather than the usual hierarchical system, a flat management structure comparable to that of the space agency's, where there were a range of specialist groups all tackling various components of the mission at a different facilities.
“If you have to go through a process where a challenge emerges and they escalate it to their supervisor, that supervisor consults a supervisor at a different location, it goes back down the chain, the process is very slow,” explains Nick Chester. “Therefore we enable team members to really get on with it. Avoiding managerial sign-off for everything is far more efficient and quicker.”
The Future
The success of this flexible strategy will be evaluated in the heat of competition when the season begins and there is a considerable amount riding on this for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their test driver the emerging American Colton Herta
