Approximately one year ago at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally awarded the official approval as Formula One’s latest participant for the 2026 season. Constructing the organization from nothing has involved a intense pace of work that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo moon landing. As the sport descends on Las Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac are aware the clock is ticking.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the season finale of the championship to be held in the America, with approximately a hundred days to go before they make their debut for the maiden outing in Australia at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a never-ending endeavor, they are aware there will never be enough hours in the day.
The CTO, Nick Chester, joined the nascent project in early 2023 shortly after it was created, when the organization were without even an official entry. He has been at its core since then and gets a knowing grin when considering the experience.
“There might be a brief moment looking back at what you have accomplished and go: ‘Wow, what an achievement what the team has created in less than three years,’” he says. “And then the following moment you consider: ‘Well, there is still a great deal to do.’”
A Unique Opportunity
Chester had success at Renault in the driver Fernando Alonso's title-winning years of 2005 and 2006 and was in control of technical direction at the recently formed Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no other project has quite compared with the task of bringing the all-American Cadillac marque, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the corporate entity, GM, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Building an F1 team from scratch, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he observes. “There's nothing comparable. In an established team you won't have the opportunity to transform team culture.”
With each passing day that elapses thoughts are sharper on the impending moment of truth in Australia and goals are being managed.
“You have to assume that any incoming team joining the grid is going to be last but merely participating will be an accomplishment in itself,” the team principal commented this year and while Nick Chester agreed with this sentiment he believed the squad had a reputation to build as well.
“The initial objective we aim to demonstrate is that we should be there,” he says. “So we show up and we perform competently. We aim to demonstrate that this is a professional operation executing the proper actions on the track. When we have demonstrated that we are a legitimate team, then we will focus on improvement after that.”
Pilot Selection and Team Building Drive
In late summer they contracted Sergio Pérez and Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a pair remarkable for their priceless expertise in operating at the front in two of the sport’s biggest teams, the Red Bull team and Mercedes-AMG, and the Finnish driver echoed the attitude of determined optimism.
“Of course, we’re realistic,” he commented. “There’s going to be a huge amount of work to do, and it will likely be almost certainly a difficult start, because this is Formula One. But our goal isn't to finish last. I am confident given this organization, with this group, this staff, there’s no reason why we won't be able to advance swiftly up to the pace and taste victory.”
To realize that ambition staff acquisition has been in full swing, with personnel now reaching more than 400 and scheduled to reach the objective of 600 members rapidly. Complementing their present headquarters at the UK base, the squad are in the process of completing an headquarters at Fishers in the Indianapolis area and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, where they are building the plant to build the 2029 engine, scheduled for 2029 – for now they will operate with power from Ferrari – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne. It is a complex structure, contrary to the trend in F1 for more centralization, and has led to the fresh organizational mindset to which Nick Chester referred.
NASA Blueprint
“It’s highly modelled on the NASA moon mission,” stated Lowdon ahead of the British Grand Prix in the summer. “We have a clear-eyed view, we understand how challenging it is. The deadlines, are extremely compressed. Alright, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it can seem that way.”
So they have adopted, as opposed to the usual hierarchical system, a decentralized management similar to that of the space agency's, where there were a range of project teams all focusing on different aspects of the mission across a different facilities.
“If you have to go through a process where an issue arises and they escalate it to their team leader, that manager consults a manager at a different location, it travels back down, it’s super slow,” notes Nick Chester. “Therefore we enable team members to really get on with it. Eliminating management approval for each action is much smoother and faster.”
Upcoming Challenges
The efficacy of this nimble methodology will be tested in the intensity of Grand Prix in 2026 and there is a significant degree on the line for Formula One, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their reserve driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
