Approximately one year in the past at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally given the go-ahead as F1's most recent participant for the 2026 season. Constructing the team from nothing has entailed a hectic work rate that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo moon landing. As the sport descends on the Vegas strip this weekend, the team understand the deadline is approaching.
The Countdown to Australia
At the final race of the season to be staged in the US, with around three months to go before they make their debut for the maiden outing in Melbourne at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a monumental task, they are cognizant there will never be sufficient time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, became part of the embryonic project in March 2023 shortly after it was created, when the organization were without even an official entry. He has been at its core ever since and has a knowing grin when reflecting on the journey.
“There might be five minutes reflecting at what you’ve done and say: ‘Amazing, isn’t this fantastic what the team has created in less than three years,’” he says. “Then the next minute you realize: ‘Well, we still have a significant amount to do.’”
An Unprecedented Challenge
Chester achieved victories at Renault in Alonso's championship-winning seasons of 2005/2006 and was in charge of technical direction at the new Mercedes Formula E team, but nothing has truly matched the mission of introducing the all-American Cadillac brand, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the corporate entity, GM, into F1.
“Creating an Formula One team from the ground up, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he says. “It is like nothing else. In an existing team you won't have the possibility to alter team culture.”
With every day that elapses thoughts are sharper on the approaching decisive point in Australia and expectations are being handled.
“It's reasonable to expect that a brand-new squad entering the sport is probably going to finish last but merely participating will be an accomplishment in itself,” the team principal commented recently and while Chester agreed with this sentiment he felt the organization had a reputation to build as well.
“The initial objective we intend to prove is that we belong on the grid,” he emphasizes. “So that we arrive and we operate well. We aim to demonstrate that this is a professional operation performing the right things on the circuit. Once we prove that we are a legitimate team, then we want to show forward movement from there on.”
Driver Lineup and Recruitment Effort
In late summer they signed Sergio Pérez and Valtteri as their racers for the 2026 season, a tandem remarkable for their priceless expertise in operating at the sharp end in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull and Mercedes, and the Finnish driver expressed the attitude of combative optimism.
“Certainly, we are pragmatic,” Bottas stated. “There’s going to be a huge amount of work to do, and it will likely be almost certainly a difficult start, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we aren't joining to remain at the rear. I believe given this organization, with this team, these people, there is every reason that we won't be able to progress rapidly to the front and achieve good results.”
To achieve that goal staff acquisition has been in full swing, with staff now reaching more than 400 and scheduled to reach the goal of 600 members quickly. Complementing their present headquarters at the UK base, the squad are in the phase of finishing an main base at the Fishers location in Indy and there is the GM plant in North Carolina, where they are constructing the facility to produce the 2029 engine, scheduled for the 2029 season – until then they will operate with Ferrari engines – and the aerodynamic facility in Germany. It is a sophisticated structure, different from the movement in the sport for greater centralisation, and has led to the fresh organizational mindset to which the CTO alluded.
Space Mission Inspiration
“It's closely based on the NASA moon mission,” said Lowdon just before the Silverstone race in July. “We’re realistic, we know how tough it is. The deadlines, are incredibly tight. Alright, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have embraced, rather than the usual hierarchical system, a non-hierarchical approach comparable to that of Nasa’s, where there were a range of project teams all tackling distinct elements of the mission in a variety of locations.
“In a system where you follow a protocol where someone has a problem and they raise it up to their manager, that manager talks to a manager somewhere else, it goes back down the chain, it’s super slow,” says Nick Chester. “So we empower staff to really get on with it. Avoiding management approval for all decisions is much smoother and quicker.”
The Future
The success of this nimble strategy will be proven in the pressure of racing next season and there is a considerable amount riding on this for F1, too. The Cadillac team have taken on as their reserve driver the young Californian Colton Herta
