Approximately twelve months in the past at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally given the green light as F1's newest entry for the 2026 season. Building the organization from the ground up has entailed a frenetic pace of work that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the NASA lunar mission. As F1 arrives on Vegas this weekend, the team understand the deadline is approaching.
The Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the final race of the season to be held in the America, with just over a hundred days to go before they make their debut for the first time in Australia at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a sisyphean task, they are aware there will not be adequate time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, joined the newly formed project in the spring of 2023 not long after it was established, when the team were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its heart ever since and has a amused expression when thinking about the ride.
“You can have five minutes looking back at what you have accomplished and think: ‘Wow, isn’t this fantastic what we’ve done in under three years,’” Chester states. “But then the very next instant you think: ‘Yeah, we still have a great deal to do.’”
A Unique Task
The CTO enjoyed success at the Renault team in the driver Fernando Alonso's championship-winning seasons of 2005/2006 and was in charge of technical direction at the recently formed Mercedes Formula E team, but nothing has quite compared with the challenge of introducing the all-American Cadillac marque, a manufacturer-backed entry backed by the corporate entity, GM, into F1.
“Creating an Formula One team from scratch, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he says. “It's unparalleled. In an well-set team you won't have the possibility to transform team culture.”
With each day that goes by focus are sharper on the impending decisive point in Melbourne and goals are being set realistically.
“You have to assume that any incoming team coming in is probably going to finish last but simply getting on to the grid will be an feat in itself,” the team principal noted recently and while Nick Chester echoed this he thought the squad had a statement to make as well.
“Our primary goal we intend to prove is that we belong on the grid,” Chester explains. “In order that we arrive and we perform competently. We aim to demonstrate that we’re a proper team doing the proper actions on the circuit. When we’ve shown that we’re really credible, then we will focus on progression subsequently.”
Driver Lineup and Recruitment Push
In the summer they contracted Checo Pérez and Valtteri as their pilots for 2026, a pair distinguished for their priceless expertise in operating at the leading positions in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull Racing and the Mercedes team, and Valtteri Bottas expressed the sentiment of combative optimism.
“Of course, we have a realistic outlook,” Bottas stated. “There’s going to be a huge amount of work 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 am confident with this structure, with this team, this staff, there is every reason that we won't be able to progress rapidly to a competitive level and achieve good results.”
To achieve that goal hiring has been in overdrive, with personnel now at more than 400 and intended to reach the goal of 600 members rapidly. In addition to their current base at Silverstone, the squad are in the phase of building an main base at Fishers in Indianapolis and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are constructing the plant to manufacture the power unit, scheduled for the 2029 season – in the meantime they will operate with power from Ferrari – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a complex organisation, contrary to the direction in F1 for increased consolidation, and has inspired the innovative team culture to which the CTO alluded.
Space Mission Blueprint
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo project,” stated Graeme Lowdon just before the British Grand Prix in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we understand how tough it is. The timelines, are extremely compressed. OK, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have implemented, rather than the traditional management structure, a non-hierarchical approach similar to that of NASA's, where there were a variety of specialist groups all working on various components of the program at a variety of locations.
“When you must follow a process where a challenge emerges and they raise it up to their manager, that manager talks to a supervisor at a different location, it is relayed back, it’s super slow,” explains Nick Chester. “We give authority to people to handle things directly. Moving away from hierarchical consent for all decisions is so much cleaner and quicker.”
The Future
The efficacy of this agile strategy will be tested in the pressure of racing in 2026 and there is no little amount on the line for the sport, too. Cadillac have recruited as their reserve driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
