Approximately a full year in the past at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were at last granted the go-ahead as Formula One’s newest entry for 2026. Establishing the organization from the ground up has required a frenetic operating tempo that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo program. As the sport descends on Las Vegas this weekend, Cadillac are aware the clock is ticking.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the season finale of the campaign to be staged in the United States, with just over three months to go before they make their debut for the first time in Melbourne at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a never-ending task, they are cognizant there will never be enough hours in the day.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, joined the embryonic operation in early 2023 shortly after it was established, when the organization were without even an official entry. He has been at its center since then and has a amused expression when reflecting on the journey.
“You might get a short period thinking back at what you’ve done and say: ‘Incredible, isn’t this fantastic what we have built in a short three-year period,’” he says. “Then the very next instant you think: ‘Yes, there is still a significant amount to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Task
The CTO achieved victories at the Renault team in the driver Fernando Alonso's championship-winning years of 2005/2006 and was in control of technical development at the new Mercedes Formula E team, but no other project has truly matched the task of introducing the iconic American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry sponsored by the corporate entity, General Motors, into Formula One.
“Building an F1 team from the ground up, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” Chester remarks. “There's nothing comparable. In an existing team you rarely get the chance to change cultural approach.”
With each day that passes minds are more focused on the impending decisive point in Melbourne and expectations are being managed.
“You have to assume that any incoming team entering the sport is likely to start at the back but merely participating will be an accomplishment in itself,” the team principal noted recently and while Nick Chester agreed with this sentiment he felt the team had a statement to make as well.
“Our primary goal we aim to demonstrate is that we belong on the grid,” Chester explains. “In order that we show up and we function efficiently. We want to show that this is a professional operation performing the correct procedures on the track. Once we have demonstrated that we are a legitimate team, then we will focus on progression from there on.”
Racing Talent and Recruitment Drive
In August they signed Checo Pérez and Valtteri as their pilots for the 2026 season, a pair notable for their priceless expertise in performing at the front in two top-tier teams, Red Bull and Mercedes, and Bottas reflected the mood of determined optimism.
“Naturally, we are pragmatic,” he commented. “There’s going to be a massive task to do, and it will likely be almost certainly a challenging beginning, because it is F1. But our goal isn't to stay at the back. I am confident with this setup, with this team, these personnel, it's entirely possible we won't be able to advance swiftly up to the pace and taste victory.”
To realize that ambition recruitment has been in top gear, with staff now reaching over 400 and scheduled to hit the target of 600 members quickly. In addition to their existing facility at Silverstone, the team are in the phase of building an HQ at the Fishers location in Indianapolis and there is the GM works in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are constructing the plant to manufacture the power unit, set for 2029 – in the meantime they will use Ferrari engines – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne, Germany. It is a complex structure, different from the trend in the sport for increased consolidation, and has inspired the new cultural approach to which Chester referred.
NASA Blueprint
“It’s highly modelled on the NASA moon mission,” said Graeme Lowdon just before the Silverstone race in mid-season. “We have a clear-eyed view, we recognize how tough it is. The deadlines, they’re super, super, super short. OK, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have adopted, instead of the conventional chain of command, a non-hierarchical approach akin to that of Nasa’s, where there were a variety of specialist groups all tackling distinct elements of the mission in a multiple sites.
“When you must follow a process where someone has a problem and they raise it up to their manager, that manager talks to a supervisor at a different location, it travels back down, the process is very slow,” explains Nick Chester. “Therefore we enable staff to handle things directly. Moving away from managerial sign-off for everything is so much cleaner and quicker.”
What Lies Ahead
The effectiveness of this flexible strategy will be tested in the heat of competition next season and there is a considerable amount at stake for the sport, too. Cadillac have recruited as their development driver the young American Colton Herta
