A little more than one year previously at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately granted the green light as Formula One’s most recent participant for the 2026 season. Establishing the organization from the ground up has involved a hectic operating tempo that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo program. As F1 descends on the Vegas strip this weekend, the team are aware the clock is ticking.
The Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the final race of the campaign to be held in the United States, with approximately a hundred days to go before they make their debut for the inaugural time in Melbourne at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a never-ending challenge, they are aware there will never be enough hours in the day.
The technical director, Nick Chester, came aboard the nascent team in early 2023 shortly after it was created, when the squad were without even an official entry. He has been at its heart from that point and has a wry smile when thinking about the journey.
“You can have a brief moment looking back at what you have accomplished and say: ‘Wow, what an achievement what we’ve done in under three years,’” Chester states. “Then the following moment you consider: ‘Yeah, we still have a significant amount to do.’”
A Unique Task
Nick Chester had success at Renault in the driver Fernando Alonso's title-winning years of 2005/2006 and was in control of engineering strategy at the recently formed Mercedes electric racing team, but no other project has truly matched the task of launching the all-American Cadillac name, a works entry supported by the owner, GM, into Formula One.
“Establishing an F1 team from the ground up, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” Chester remarks. “It is like nothing else. In an well-set team you don’t get the chance to transform cultural approach.”
With each day that goes by focus are more focused on the impending decisive point in the Australian GP and expectations are being managed.
“It's reasonable to expect that any new team entering the sport is probably going to finish last but just making it to the starting line will be an feat in itself,” Lowdon noted this year and while the CTO agreed with this sentiment he thought the organization had a point to prove as well.
“Our primary goal we intend to prove is that we should be there,” he emphasizes. “In order that we turn up and we function efficiently. We aim to demonstrate that we’re a proper team doing the correct procedures on the track. After we have demonstrated that we’re really credible, then we want to show progression subsequently.”
Pilot Selection and Hiring Push
In August they recruited Sergio Pérez and Bottas as their pilots for 2026, a pair distinguished for their invaluable experience in performing at the sharp end in two top-tier teams, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes, and Valtteri Bottas reflected the mood of fighting spirit.
“Of course, we’re realistic,” Bottas stated. “We face a massive task to do, and it’s going to be probably a challenging beginning, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we aren't joining to stay at the back. In my view with this setup, with these individuals, these personnel, it's entirely possible we won't be able to progress rapidly to the front and taste victory.”
To that end hiring has been in overdrive, with personnel now at more than 400 and scheduled to attain the objective of 600 members swiftly. In addition to their current base at the UK base, the organization are in the midst of finishing an HQ at Fishers in Indy and there is the General Motors facility in North Carolina, where they are building the plant to build the power unit, set for 2029 – for now they will use Ferrari engines – and the aerodynamic facility in Germany. It is a intricate organisation, different from the trend in the sport for greater centralisation, and has prompted the innovative team culture to which the CTO referred to.
Space Mission Model
“It’s highly modelled on the NASA moon mission,” said Lowdon shortly before the British Grand Prix in mid-season. “We have a clear-eyed view, we understand how challenging it is. The timelines, they’re super, super, super short. Well, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have embraced, instead of the conventional chain of command, a non-hierarchical approach akin to that of the space agency's, where there were a range of specialist groups all tackling different aspects of the program at a variety of locations.
“When you must follow a process where someone has a problem and they escalate it to their manager, that leader communicates with a manager in another department, it travels back down, it’s super slow,” says Nick Chester. “Therefore we enable people to handle things directly. Eliminating managerial sign-off for all decisions is far more efficient and faster.”
What Lies Ahead
The effectiveness of this nimble methodology will be tested in the heat of competition when the season begins and there is a significant degree at stake for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their test driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
