Approximately a full year ago at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately awarded the green light as Formula One’s newest entry for 2026. Constructing the squad from the ground up has entailed a intense pace of work that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo moon landing. As the sport arrives on Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac understand time is getting tight.
The Tight Timeline to Australia
At the season finale of the season to be held in the America, with just over a hundred days to go before they hit the circuit for the maiden outing in Australia at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a never-ending task, they are aware there will never be adequate time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, joined the embryonic project in early 2023 soon after it was created, when the squad were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its core since then and enjoys a wry smile when considering the experience.
“There might be a brief moment thinking back at what you’ve done and go: ‘Wow, isn’t this fantastic what the team has created in a short three-year period,’” he notes. “Then the very next instant you realize: ‘Yes, we still have a significant amount to do.’”
A Unique Opportunity
The CTO enjoyed success at Renault in the driver Fernando Alonso's victorious campaigns of 2005/2006 and was in control of technical direction at the new Mercedes electric racing team, but nothing has been quite like the challenge of bringing the iconic American Cadillac name, a works entry supported by the owner, General Motors, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Establishing an Formula One team from nothing, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he observes. “It's unparalleled. In an existing team you won't have the possibility to transform team culture.”
With each passing day that elapses focus are more focused on the impending critical moment in Australia and expectations are being managed.
“You have to assume that a brand-new squad entering the sport is going to be last but simply getting on to the grid will be an accomplishment in itself,” the team principal stated earlier this year and while the CTO agreed with this sentiment he felt the squad had a statement to make as well.
“The first thing we aim to demonstrate is that we deserve to be there,” Chester explains. “In order that we show up and we perform competently. We aim to demonstrate that we are a serious contender executing the proper actions on the track. Once we prove that our credentials are solid, then we aim to demonstrate progression from there on.”
Driver Lineup and Recruitment Drive
In August they recruited Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas as their pilots for the 2026 season, a tandem notable for their priceless expertise in operating at the sharp end in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull and Mercedes-AMG, and Bottas reflected the sentiment of combative optimism.
“Certainly, we are pragmatic,” he said. “There’s going to be a massive task to do, and it’s going to be most likely a tough opening, because it is F1. But our goal isn't to stay at the back. I believe with this setup, with this group, this staff, it's entirely possible we won't be able to advance swiftly up to the pace and achieve good results.”
To realize that ambition recruitment has been in full swing, with staff now at in excess of 400 and scheduled to hit the target of 600 members quickly. In addition to their existing facility at the Silverstone circuit, the organization are in the midst of finishing an HQ at the Fishers location in Indy and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, where they are constructing the center to build the new engine, scheduled for 2029 – in the meantime they will operate with Ferrari engines – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a intricate organisation, at odds with the direction in F1 for more centralization, and has inspired the new cultural approach to which Nick Chester referred.
NASA Inspiration
“It's closely based on the Apollo project,” remarked the team principal shortly before the British Grand Prix in mid-season. “We’re realistic, we recognize how difficult it is. The schedules, they’re super, super, super short. Well, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it can seem that way.”
So they have implemented, instead of the usual hierarchical system, a non-hierarchical approach akin to that of Nasa’s, where there were a variety of Apollo teams all focusing on different aspects of the mission in a variety of locations.
“In a system where you follow a procedure where someone has a problem and they raise it up to their manager, that manager consults a leader somewhere else, it travels back down, the process is very slow,” says the CTO. “We give authority to people to really get on with it. Eliminating managerial sign-off for each action is far more efficient and more rapid.”
What Lies Ahead
The success of this nimble methodology will be tested in the intensity of Grand Prix next season and there is a significant degree riding on this for Formula One, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their development driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta
