Just over a full year in the past at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately awarded the official approval as F1's newest participant for the 2026 season. Building the organization from the ground up has involved a intense work rate that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo program. As the sport descends on Las Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac know the deadline is approaching.
The Tight Timeline to Australia
At the last event of the championship to be staged in the US, with approximately 100 days to go before they hit the circuit for the first time in Australia at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a sisyphean challenge, they are aware there will not be adequate time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, came aboard the newly formed operation in March 2023 shortly after it was established, when the squad were without even an approved entry. He has been at its core from that point and enjoys a wry smile when reflecting on the experience.
“There might be a brief moment looking back at what the team has achieved and say: ‘Wow, isn’t this fantastic what we have built in under three years,’” he notes. “And then the next minute you realize: ‘Yes, there is still a great deal to do.’”
A Unique Opportunity
Chester had success at Renault in Alonso's championship-winning years of 2005/2006 and was in control of engineering strategy at the new Mercedes electric racing team, but no previous experience has been quite like the challenge of bringing the quintessentially American Cadillac brand, a works entry supported by the parent company, GM, into F1.
“Establishing an grand prix team from the ground up, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he says. “It's unparalleled. In an established team you won't have the chance to transform organizational mindset.”
With each day that elapses minds are increasingly concentrated on the approaching critical moment in the Australian GP and goals are being set realistically.
“You have to assume that any new team joining the grid is going to be last but simply getting on to the grid will be an achievement in itself,” the team principal commented this year and while Chester shared this view he thought the organization had a statement to make as well.
“The initial objective we aim to demonstrate is that we belong on the grid,” he says. “So we arrive and we perform competently. We aim to demonstrate that we are a serious contender doing the right things on the circuit. After we have demonstrated that we are a legitimate team, then we aim to demonstrate improvement after that.”
Pilot Selection and Team Building Push
In the summer they contracted Sergio Pérez and Bottas as their pilots for 2026, a duo notable for their invaluable experience in performing at the leading positions in two top-tier teams, Red Bull and Mercedes-AMG, and Bottas expressed the mood of combative optimism.
“Certainly, we have a realistic outlook,” he said. “We face a huge amount of work to do, and we expect almost certainly a difficult start, because it is F1. But our goal isn't to remain at the rear. I believe given this organization, with this group, this staff, it's entirely possible we can't manage to advance swiftly up to the pace and achieve good results.”
To that end recruitment has been in top gear, with personnel now up to over 400 and scheduled to hit the goal of 600 swiftly. In addition to their existing facility at the UK base, the squad are in the phase of building an headquarters at Fishers, Indiana in Indy and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, where they are constructing the plant to produce the power unit, scheduled for 2029 – for now they will operate with Ferrari power units – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Germany. It is a complex organization, at odds with the trend in F1 for increased consolidation, and has led to the fresh organizational mindset to which Nick Chester alluded.
NASA Inspiration
“It's closely based on the NASA moon mission,” remarked Graeme Lowdon shortly before the Silverstone race in the summer. “We’re realistic, we recognize how difficult it is. The deadlines, are incredibly tight. Alright, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it can seem that way.”
So they have implemented, instead of the traditional management structure, a non-hierarchical approach akin to that of Nasa’s, where there were a variety of specialist groups all working on various components of the project at a different facilities.
“If you have to go through a procedure where someone has a problem and they escalate it to their supervisor, that supervisor communicates with a supervisor at a different location, it is relayed back, it becomes inefficient,” says the CTO. “We give authority to people to really get on with it. Moving away from management approval for all decisions is far more efficient and more rapid.”
The Future
The efficacy of this agile strategy will be evaluated in the heat of competition when the season begins and there is a significant degree riding on this for the sport, too. Cadillac have recruited as their reserve driver the emerging American Colton Herta
