A little more than twelve months in the past at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were at last given the official approval as F1's most recent participant for 2026. Constructing the organization from nothing has involved a frenetic operating tempo that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the NASA lunar mission. As Formula One arrives on Las Vegas this race weekend, the team know the clock is ticking.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the last event of the season to be hosted in the US, with just over three months to go before they take to the track for the first time in Australia at the first race of 2026, the Cadillac F1 project have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a sisyphean challenge, they are conscious there will not be sufficient time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, joined the newly formed operation in March 2023 soon after it was created, when the organization were without even an official entry. He has been at its heart from that point and has a amused expression when considering the experience.
“You might get a brief moment reflecting at what you’ve done and go: ‘Amazing, how impressive what the team has created in less than three years,’” he notes. “But then the next minute you realize: ‘Well, there is still quite a lot to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Task
Chester had success at Renault in Alonso's title-winning seasons of 2005 and 2006 and was in charge of technical development at the new Mercedes Formula E team, but no previous experience has been quite like the task of launching the all-American Cadillac marque, a works entry sponsored by the owner, GM, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Creating an grand prix team from the ground up, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” Chester remarks. “It's unparalleled. In an well-set team you rarely get the chance to alter team culture.”
With each day that passes thoughts are sharper on the impending moment of truth in the Australian GP and targets are being handled.
“It's reasonable to expect that any new team joining the grid is going to be last but just making it to the starting line will be an achievement in itself,” the team principal commented earlier this year and while the CTO agreed with this sentiment he felt the organization had a point to prove as well.
“Our primary goal we intend to prove is that we should be there,” Chester explains. “So we turn up and we perform competently. We aim to demonstrate that we are a serious contender doing the right things on the track. Once we’ve shown that we’re really credible, then we want to show progression subsequently.”
Racing Talent and Recruitment Drive
In late summer they signed Sergio Perez and Valtteri as their drivers for the 2026 season, a pair notable for their vast knowledge in operating at the front in two top-tier teams, the Red Bull team and Mercedes, and the Finnish driver expressed the sentiment of determined optimism.
“Of course, we are pragmatic,” he commented. “We have a massive task to do, and it will likely be most likely a tough opening, because this is Formula One. But our goal isn't to remain at the rear. I believe given this organization, with this group, these people, there is every reason that we won't be able to advance swiftly to a competitive level and taste victory.”
To that end recruitment has been in full swing, with employees now at in excess of 400 and scheduled to attain the goal of six hundred rapidly. In addition to their existing facility at the UK base, the organization are in the phase of completing an HQ at Fishers in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are building the facility to build the power unit, planned for 2029 – until then they will run power from Ferrari – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a sophisticated structure, different from the trend in F1 for more centralization, and has prompted the fresh organizational mindset to which the CTO referred.
Space Mission Model
“We've drawn heavily from the NASA moon mission,” said Graeme Lowdon ahead of the Silverstone race in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we know how tough it is. The schedules, are extremely compressed. OK, it's not a space expedition, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have adopted, instead of the traditional management structure, a decentralized management akin to that of NASA's, where there were a assortment of specialist groups all tackling different aspects of the program across a variety of locations.
“If you have to go through a protocol where a challenge emerges and they escalate it to their supervisor, that manager communicates with a manager in another department, it travels back down, the process is very slow,” notes Chester. “Therefore we enable people to take charge. Eliminating management approval for all decisions is far more efficient and more rapid.”
What Lies Ahead
The effectiveness of this nimble approach will be evaluated in the intensity of Grand Prix when the season begins and there is a significant degree on the line for F1, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their reserve driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta
