A little more than a full year previously at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were at last given the official approval as F1's latest entry for the 2026 season. Establishing the organization from nothing has required a frenetic operating tempo that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the NASA lunar mission. As Formula One converges on Las Vegas this race weekend, the team know time is getting tight.
The Countdown to Australia
At the season finale of the championship to be held in the America, with around three months to go before they take to the track for the first time in Australia at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a sisyphean endeavor, they are aware there will not be adequate time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, became part of the embryonic team in March 2023 soon after it was established, when the organization were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its core from that point and enjoys a amused expression when thinking about the ride.
“You can have five minutes thinking back at what you’ve done and think: ‘Amazing, isn’t this fantastic what we’ve done in under three years,’” he says. “But then the very next instant you consider: ‘Yes, we still have a significant amount to do.’”
A Unique Task
Chester enjoyed success at Renault in the driver Fernando Alonso's championship-winning campaigns of the mid-2000s and was in charge of technical development at the then-new Mercedes electric racing team, but no previous experience has truly matched the mission of introducing the iconic American Cadillac marque, a works entry backed by the parent company, GM, into Formula One.
“Establishing an grand prix team from the ground up, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” Chester remarks. “There's nothing comparable. In an established team you won't have the chance to change organizational mindset.”
With each passing day that passes minds are increasingly concentrated on the looming moment of truth in Melbourne and goals are being set realistically.
“It's reasonable to expect that a brand-new squad coming in is going to be last but just making it to the starting line will be an feat in itself,” Graeme Lowdon commented recently and while the CTO echoed this he felt the organization had a statement to make as well.
“The initial objective we want to show is that we deserve to be there,” he says. “In order that we show up and we operate well. We aim to demonstrate that this is a professional operation doing the correct procedures on the circuit. When we’ve shown that our credentials are solid, then we will focus on forward movement subsequently.”
Driver Lineup and Hiring Push
In August they signed Sergio Pérez and Valtteri as their drivers for 2026, a tandem remarkable for their vast knowledge in performing at the sharp end in two top-tier teams, Red Bull and Mercedes-AMG, and Valtteri Bottas reflected the mood of determined optimism.
“Certainly, we have a realistic outlook,” he said. “We face a massive task to do, and it will likely be almost certainly a challenging beginning, because it is F1. But we aren't joining to stay at the back. In my view with this structure, with this team, these people, there’s no reason why we won't be able to advance swiftly up to the pace and taste victory.”
To realize that ambition staff acquisition has been in full swing, with staff now reaching more than 400 and scheduled to hit the target of 600 rapidly. In addition to their present headquarters at the Silverstone circuit, the squad are in the midst of completing an main base at Fishers, Indiana in Indy and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are constructing the facility to produce the new engine, planned for 2029 – until then they will use Ferrari power units – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a complex organization, contrary to the movement in the sport for more centralization, and has prompted the new cultural approach to which Nick Chester alluded.
NASA Blueprint
“It's closely based on the NASA moon mission,” stated the team principal shortly before the Silverstone race in mid-season. “We’re realistic, we understand how difficult it is. The schedules, are incredibly tight. Alright, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have adopted, instead of the traditional management structure, a decentralized management comparable to that of Nasa’s, where there were a variety of specialist groups all tackling various components of the mission across a multiple sites.
“If you have to go through a protocol where a challenge emerges and they escalate it to their team leader, that supervisor communicates with a leader in another department, it travels back down, it becomes inefficient,” says Nick Chester. “We give authority to team members to handle things directly. Moving away from managerial sign-off for all decisions is far more efficient and more rapid.”
What Lies Ahead
The success of this flexible methodology will be evaluated in the pressure of racing in 2026 and there is no little amount riding on this for F1, too. Cadillac have recruited as their development driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta
