A little more than a full year previously at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately awarded the go-ahead as F1's latest entrant for the 2026 season. Building the organization from nothing has required a hectic work rate that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo program. As Formula One descends on Las Vegas this race weekend, the team know time is getting tight.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the final race of the championship to be held in the United States, with around three months to go before they hit the circuit for the first time in Melbourne at the 2026 opener, the Cadillac F1 project have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a monumental endeavor, they are cognizant there will not be adequate time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, came aboard the embryonic operation in March 2023 soon after it was created, when the squad were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its center ever since and enjoys a wry smile when thinking about the ride.
“You can have five minutes reflecting at what you’ve done and say: ‘Wow, how impressive what we’ve done in a short three-year period,’” he says. “But then the very next instant you think: ‘Well, we’ve still got a great deal to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Task
Chester enjoyed success at the Renault team in Alonso's victorious seasons of 2005/2006 and was in charge of technical development at the recently formed Mercedes electric racing team, but no other project has truly matched the mission of launching the iconic American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry sponsored by the parent company, GM, into Formula One.
“Establishing an Formula One team from scratch, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” Chester remarks. “There's nothing comparable. In an well-set team you don’t get the opportunity to transform cultural approach.”
With every day that passes minds are more focused on the impending decisive point in the Australian GP and goals are being handled.
“One must presume that any new team entering the sport is going to be last but merely participating will be an feat in itself,” Lowdon commented recently and while the CTO agreed with this sentiment he thought the squad had a reputation to build as well.
“The initial objective we want to show is that we belong on the grid,” he emphasizes. “In order that we show up and we function efficiently. We seek to prove that this is a professional operation doing the right things on the circuit. Once we have demonstrated that we are a legitimate team, then we aim to demonstrate forward movement from there on.”
Racing Talent and Team Building Effort
In August they recruited Sergio Pérez and Valtteri as their racers for the 2026 season, a tandem distinguished for their vast knowledge in competing at the sharp end in two of the sport’s biggest teams, the Red Bull team and Mercedes-AMG, and the Finnish driver reflected the mood of determined optimism.
“Certainly, we are pragmatic,” he commented. “We have a mountain of work to do, and we expect most likely a difficult start, because it is F1. But we aren't joining to remain at the rear. I believe with this setup, with this team, these personnel, it's entirely possible we can't manage to get relatively quickly up to the pace and taste victory.”
To that end hiring has been in full swing, with staff now up to more than 400 and intended to reach the target of 600 members swiftly. In addition to their current base at the UK base, the organization are in the phase of finishing an HQ at Fishers in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM plant in North Carolina, where they are constructing the center to build the 2029 engine, scheduled for 2029 – for now they will operate with power from Ferrari – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Germany. It is a complex structure, different from the direction in Formula One for greater centralisation, and has led to the fresh organizational mindset to which Chester referred.
Space Mission Model
“It's closely based on the NASA moon mission,” remarked the team principal shortly before the Silverstone race in the summer. “We’re realistic, we understand how challenging it is. The schedules, they’re super, super, super short. OK, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have embraced, as opposed to the usual hierarchical system, a flat management structure comparable to that of NASA's, where there were a variety of project teams all focusing on various components of the mission in a variety of locations.
“If you have to go through a process where an issue arises and they report it to their manager, that leader consults a manager at a different location, it goes back down the chain, it becomes inefficient,” explains Nick Chester. “Therefore we enable people to take charge. Moving away from managerial sign-off for all decisions is much smoother and more rapid.”
The Future
The success of this nimble methodology will be evaluated 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 reserve driver the young Californian Colton Herta
