A little more than a full year previously at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were at last given the official approval as F1's latest participant for the 2026 season. Building the organization from scratch has entailed a hectic pace of work that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo program. As Formula One descends on Vegas this race weekend, the team are aware time is getting tight.
The Race Against Time to Australia
At the final race of the campaign to be staged in the America, with just over a hundred days to go before they take to the track for the first time in Melbourne at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a never-ending challenge, they are cognizant there will never be enough hours in the day.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, joined the newly formed project in the spring of 2023 not long after it was created, when the squad were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its heart since then and enjoys a knowing grin when thinking about the journey.
“There might be a short period looking back at what you have accomplished and go: ‘Amazing, how impressive what we’ve done in under three years,’” Chester states. “And then the next minute you consider: ‘Yeah, we’ve still got a great deal to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Opportunity
Chester achieved victories at Renault in the driver Fernando Alonso's victorious seasons of 2005 and 2006 and was in command of technical development at the recently formed Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no other project has been quite like the challenge of introducing the quintessentially American Cadillac brand, a works entry sponsored by the parent company, General Motors, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Creating an grand prix team from nothing, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he observes. “There's nothing comparable. In an established team you rarely get the possibility to alter team culture.”
With each passing day that passes thoughts are more focused on the looming moment of truth in Australia and targets are being managed.
“One must presume that any incoming team coming in is likely to start at the back but merely participating will be an accomplishment in itself,” the team principal stated earlier this year and while Nick Chester shared this view he thought the organization had a reputation to build as well.
“The first thing we aim to demonstrate is that we should be there,” he says. “In order that we turn up and we operate well. We aim to demonstrate that we are a serious contender doing the correct procedures on the race track. When we have demonstrated that we’re really credible, then we aim to demonstrate improvement from there on.”
Racing Talent and Hiring Effort
In the summer they recruited Sergio Pérez and Bottas as their racers for 2026, a pair distinguished for their priceless expertise in performing at the sharp end in two of the sport’s biggest teams, the Red Bull team and Mercedes-AMG, and the Finnish driver echoed the mood of determined optimism.
“Certainly, we have a realistic outlook,” he said. “There’s going to be a massive task to do, and we expect probably a tough opening, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we’re not there to remain at the rear. I believe with this setup, with this team, this staff, it's entirely possible we won't be able to get relatively quickly to a competitive level and taste victory.”
To realize that ambition staff acquisition has been in top gear, with personnel now up to in excess of 400 and planned to hit the objective of 600 members rapidly. In addition to their existing facility at the Silverstone circuit, the team are in the process of building an headquarters at Fishers in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, where they are building the center to build the new engine, scheduled for 2029 – until then they will use Ferrari power units – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a sophisticated structure, at odds with the direction in F1 for increased consolidation, and has led to the fresh organizational mindset to which Nick Chester referred to.
Space Mission Inspiration
“It's closely based on the NASA moon mission,” stated Graeme Lowdon just before the British GP in the summer. “We’re realistic, we know how challenging it is. The deadlines, are incredibly tight. Alright, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it can seem that way.”
So they have embraced, rather than the conventional chain of command, a flat management structure similar to that of the space agency's, where there were a variety of project teams all tackling various components of the project in a variety of locations.
“When you must follow a procedure where someone has a problem and they report it to their supervisor, that supervisor consults a manager somewhere else, it is relayed back, it’s super slow,” notes the CTO. “Therefore we enable people to handle things directly. Avoiding hierarchical consent for each action is far more efficient and more rapid.”
What Lies Ahead
The effectiveness of this nimble approach will be proven in the heat of competition when the season begins and there is a significant degree at stake for Formula One, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their reserve driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta