Approximately one year in the past at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately awarded the green light as the world of Formula One's newest participant for 2026. Establishing the squad from the ground up has required a hectic work rate that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo moon landing. As the sport converges on Las Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac understand the deadline is approaching.
The Race Against Time to Australia
At the last event of the season to be held in the United States, with around a hundred days to go before they hit the circuit for the maiden outing in Melbourne at the first race of 2026, the Cadillac F1 project have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a never-ending endeavor, they are conscious there will not be adequate time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, became part of the newly formed operation in early 2023 shortly after it was created, when the squad were without even an approved entry. He has been at its center ever since and gets a wry smile when thinking about the journey.
“You might get a short period looking back at what you have accomplished and go: ‘Incredible, how impressive what the team has created in a short three-year period,’” Chester states. “And then the following moment you consider: ‘Yeah, we still have a great deal to do.’”
A Unique Challenge
Chester had success at the Renault team in Alonso's victorious seasons of 2005/2006 and was in charge of technical development at the then-new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no previous experience has been quite like the task of launching the quintessentially American Cadillac marque, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the parent company, General Motors, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Creating an Formula One team from the ground up, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” Chester remarks. “There's nothing comparable. In an established team you don’t get the chance to change team culture.”
With each passing day that passes minds are more focused on the approaching critical moment in the Australian GP and goals are being managed.
“You have to assume that any new team entering the sport is likely to start at the back but merely participating will be an achievement in itself,” Lowdon noted this year and while the CTO shared this view he thought the squad had a point to prove as well.
“The first thing we intend to prove is that we should be there,” he emphasizes. “So we show up and we operate well. We seek to prove that we are a serious contender doing the right things on the track. Once we have demonstrated that we are a legitimate team, then we will focus on forward movement from there on.”
Driver Lineup and Hiring Push
In late summer they recruited Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas as their pilots for the 2026 season, a duo remarkable for their invaluable experience in performing at the leading positions in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes, and Bottas expressed the mood of determined optimism.
“Certainly, we are pragmatic,” he commented. “There’s going to be a massive task to do, and it will likely be probably a difficult start, because it is F1. But we’re not there to remain at the rear. In my view with this setup, with these individuals, these personnel, it's entirely possible we can't manage to progress rapidly up to the pace and enjoy some success.”
To that end hiring has been in top gear, with employees now reaching over 400 and planned to attain the goal of 600 members rapidly. Alongside their existing facility at the Silverstone circuit, the organization are in the process of building an main base at the Fishers location in the Indianapolis area and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, where they are building the center to manufacture the 2029 engine, planned for the 2029 season – until then they will run Ferrari engines – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a sophisticated organization, different from the movement in Formula One for more centralization, and has prompted the innovative team culture to which Nick Chester alluded.
NASA Model
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo project,” said the team principal shortly before the Silverstone race in the summer. “We are pragmatic, we know how difficult it is. The timelines, they’re super, super, super short. Alright, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it can seem that way.”
So they have implemented, as opposed to the usual hierarchical system, a flat management structure akin to that of NASA's, where there were a assortment of Apollo teams all focusing on distinct elements of the program across a multiple sites.
“In a system where you follow a procedure where an issue arises and they raise it up to their manager, that manager talks to a manager somewhere else, it travels back down, it’s super slow,” notes the CTO. “Therefore we enable staff to handle things directly. Eliminating management approval for everything is far more efficient and more rapid.”
What Lies Ahead
The effectiveness of this flexible approach will be evaluated in the pressure of racing when the season begins and there is a significant degree at stake for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their reserve driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta