A little more than twelve months ago at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were at last awarded the go-ahead as F1's latest entry for the 2026 season. Constructing the team from the ground up has entailed a intense work rate that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the NASA lunar mission. As F1 arrives on the Vegas strip this race weekend, the team understand the deadline is approaching.
The Tight Timeline to Melbourne
At the season finale of the campaign to be hosted in the America, with approximately a hundred days to go before they hit the circuit for the inaugural time in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a never-ending challenge, they are conscious there will never be enough hours in the day.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, became part of the embryonic operation in the spring of 2023 shortly after it was established, when the team were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its center from that point and enjoys a wry smile when reflecting on the experience.
“You can have five minutes reflecting at what you’ve done and say: ‘Wow, what an achievement what we’ve done in less than three years,’” he says. “Then the next minute you think: ‘Yes, we still have quite a lot to do.’”
An Unprecedented Challenge
Nick Chester enjoyed success at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s championship-winning years of the mid-2000s and was in control of engineering strategy at the then-new Mercedes electric racing team, but no previous experience has been quite like the mission of launching the all-American Cadillac marque, a works entry supported by the owner, GM, into Formula One.
“Creating an grand prix team from the ground up, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” Chester remarks. “It is like nothing else. In an established team you rarely get the opportunity to alter cultural approach.”
With every day that elapses thoughts are more focused on the impending moment of truth in the Australian GP and targets are being handled.
“It's reasonable to expect that any incoming team joining the grid is going to be last but simply getting on to the grid will be an feat in itself,” Lowdon commented recently and while the CTO shared this view he thought the team had a point to prove as well.
“The initial objective we intend to prove is that we belong on the grid,” Chester explains. “In order that we show up and we function efficiently. We want to show that we are a serious contender doing the correct procedures on the track. Once we have demonstrated that our credentials are solid, then we will focus on progression subsequently.”
Pilot Selection and Hiring Drive
In late summer they contracted Sergio Perez and Valtteri as their drivers for the 2026 season, a pair distinguished for their priceless expertise in competing at the leading positions in two top-tier teams, the Red Bull team and Mercedes, and Valtteri Bottas echoed the mood of determined optimism.
“Naturally, we have a realistic outlook,” he said. “We have a massive task to do, and it’s going to be probably a challenging beginning, because it is F1. But we aren't joining to remain at the rear. In my view given this organization, with this group, this staff, there is every reason that we won't be able to advance swiftly to a competitive level and enjoy some success.”
To that end recruitment has been in overdrive, with personnel now at more than 400 and intended to reach the target of 600 rapidly. In addition to their present headquarters at the UK base, the squad are in the phase of building an HQ at the Fishers location in Indy and there is the GM plant in North Carolina, where they are constructing the facility to produce the power unit, planned for 2029 – in the meantime they will operate with Ferrari engines – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a complex organisation, contrary to the direction in Formula One for increased consolidation, and has prompted the innovative team culture to which Chester referred to.
Space Mission Blueprint
“We've drawn heavily from the NASA moon mission,” stated Graeme Lowdon ahead of the Silverstone race in mid-season. “We are pragmatic, we understand how difficult it is. The deadlines, they’re super, super, super short. Well, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have embraced, rather than the conventional chain of command, a non-hierarchical approach comparable to that of NASA's, where there were a variety of Apollo teams all working on distinct elements of the mission across a variety of locations.
“If you have to go through a protocol where a challenge emerges and they escalate it to their manager, that leader talks to a supervisor somewhere else, it is relayed back, it’s super slow,” notes the CTO. “So we empower people to handle things directly. Moving away from hierarchical consent for all decisions is much smoother and faster.”
What Lies Ahead
The efficacy of this flexible approach will be evaluated in the heat of competition next season and there is no little amount on the line for F1, too. Cadillac have recruited as their reserve driver the young American Colton Herta
