Approximately twelve months in the past at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally given the go-ahead as Formula One’s latest entrant for 2026. Building the organization from nothing has entailed a frenetic operating tempo that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the NASA lunar mission. As F1 arrives on Las Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac understand the clock is ticking.
The Race Against Time to Australia
At the last event of the campaign to be held in the US, with around a hundred days to go before they take to the track for the inaugural time in Australia at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a sisyphean endeavor, they are cognizant there will never be adequate time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, became part of the nascent team in March 2023 soon after it was created, when the squad were without even an approved entry. He has been at its heart since then and gets a amused expression when reflecting on the ride.
“You might get a short period looking back at what you’ve done and go: ‘Wow, what an achievement what we have built in less than three years,’” Chester states. “Then the next minute you realize: ‘Yes, we’ve still got quite a lot to do.’”
An Unprecedented Task
Nick Chester had success at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s championship-winning seasons of 2005/2006 and was in command of engineering strategy at the recently formed Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no other project has truly matched the task of bringing the iconic American Cadillac marque, a factory team supported by the corporate entity, General Motors, into F1.
“Building an Formula One team from nothing, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he observes. “It is like nothing else. In an established team you rarely get the possibility to transform cultural approach.”
With every day that goes by thoughts are sharper on the approaching moment of truth in Australia and goals are being handled.
“You have to assume that any incoming team coming in is likely to start at the back but just making it to the starting line will be an accomplishment in itself,” Lowdon noted this year and while the CTO agreed with this sentiment he felt the organization had a statement to make as well.
“Our primary goal we aim to demonstrate is that we belong on the grid,” Chester explains. “So that we turn up and we perform competently. We seek to prove that this is a professional operation doing the right things on the race track. Once we’ve shown that we are a legitimate team, then we want to show progression from there on.”
Racing Talent and Hiring Effort
In August they recruited Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas as their drivers for the 2026 season, a tandem distinguished for their vast knowledge in performing at the sharp end in two of the sport’s biggest teams, the Red Bull team and Mercedes, and Bottas reflected the mood of combative optimism.
“Certainly, we’re realistic,” he commented. “There’s going to be a huge amount of work to do, and we expect most likely a challenging beginning, because this is Formula One. But we aren't joining to remain at the rear. I am confident with this structure, with these individuals, this staff, there is every reason that we won't be able to advance swiftly to a competitive level and enjoy some success.”
To realize that ambition staff acquisition has been in overdrive, with staff now at more than 400 and scheduled to reach the objective of 600 members quickly. In addition to their current base at the UK base, the team are in the phase of building an HQ at Fishers, Indiana in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM works in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are building the plant to produce the power unit, set for 2029 – until then they will use power from Ferrari – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a intricate structure, at odds with the trend in the sport for more centralization, and has led to the innovative team culture to which Chester alluded.
NASA Inspiration
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo project,” stated the team principal just before the British GP in the summer. “We are pragmatic, we understand how difficult it is. The deadlines, are incredibly tight. Alright, it's not a space expedition, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have embraced, instead of the traditional management structure, a decentralized management akin to that of the space agency's, where there were a range of specialist groups all working on distinct elements of the project at a variety of locations.
“If you have to go through a procedure where an issue arises and they raise it up to their manager, that manager talks to a supervisor at a different location, it goes back down the chain, it becomes inefficient,” notes Chester. “We give authority to team members to take charge. Avoiding management approval for all decisions is much smoother and more rapid.”
What Lies Ahead
The efficacy of this agile approach will be tested in the intensity of Grand Prix in 2026 and there is no little amount on the line for Formula One, too. Cadillac have recruited as their development driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta
