A little more than twelve months in the past at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally granted the official approval as the world of Formula One's newest entry for 2026. Establishing the team from the ground up has entailed a hectic operating tempo that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the NASA lunar mission. As F1 converges on the Vegas strip this race weekend, the team understand the deadline is approaching.
The Tight Timeline to Melbourne
At the last event of the campaign to be staged in the United States, with approximately 100 days to go before they hit the circuit for the maiden outing in Melbourne at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a sisyphean endeavor, they are aware there will never be enough hours in the day.
The technical director, Nick Chester, became part of the embryonic team in March 2023 shortly after it was formed, when the organization were without even an approved entry. He has been at its center from that point and enjoys a wry smile when thinking about the experience.
“There might be a short period reflecting at what you have accomplished and go: ‘Wow, what an achievement what the team has created in less than three years,’” he says. “Then the very next instant you realize: ‘Well, there is still a great deal to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Challenge
Chester had success at the Renault team in the driver Fernando Alonso's victorious campaigns of the mid-2000s and was in charge of engineering strategy at the then-new Mercedes electric racing team, but no previous experience has quite compared with the challenge of launching the quintessentially American Cadillac marque, a manufacturer-backed entry sponsored by the corporate entity, General Motors Corporation, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Building an Formula One team from the ground up, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he says. “It is like nothing else. In an existing team you don’t get the chance to change organizational mindset.”
With each passing day that elapses focus are sharper on the looming moment of truth in the Australian GP and goals are being managed.
“You have to assume that any incoming team entering the sport is probably going to finish last but just making it to the starting line will be an achievement in itself,” the team principal commented this year and while Chester shared this view he believed the squad had a point to prove as well.
“The first thing we aim to demonstrate is that we should be there,” he says. “In order that we arrive and we perform competently. We seek to prove that this is a professional operation doing the proper actions on the circuit. Once we’ve shown that we are a legitimate team, then we want to show progression from there on.”
Pilot Selection and Hiring Push
In August they recruited Sergio Pérez and Bottas as their racers for 2026, a pair notable for their priceless expertise in competing at the leading positions in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes-AMG, and Valtteri Bottas reflected the attitude of combative optimism.
“Naturally, we are pragmatic,” he commented. “We face a mountain of work to do, and it will likely be most likely a tough opening, because this is Formula One. But we aren't joining to stay at the back. I believe given this organization, with this group, this staff, there’s no reason why we can't manage to progress rapidly to the front and achieve good results.”
To achieve that goal hiring has been in overdrive, with personnel now up to over 400 and intended to attain the goal of 600 members quickly. Alongside their existing facility at Silverstone, the team are in the phase of completing an HQ at Fishers in Indianapolis and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, where they are developing the facility to build the new engine, set for 2029 – in the meantime they will operate with power from Ferrari – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne, Germany. It is a intricate organisation, different from the trend in F1 for more centralization, and has led to the innovative team culture to which the CTO referred to.
NASA Blueprint
“It's closely based on the Apollo project,” stated Graeme Lowdon shortly before the British Grand Prix in July. “We are pragmatic, we recognize how challenging it is. The deadlines, they’re super, super, super short. Well, it's not a space expedition, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have embraced, as opposed to the traditional management structure, a flat management structure similar to that of NASA's, where there were a range of project teams all working on various components of the program at a variety of locations.
“If you have to go through a procedure where an issue arises and they raise it up to their supervisor, that supervisor consults a supervisor somewhere else, it is relayed back, it becomes inefficient,” notes Nick Chester. “Therefore we enable people to handle things directly. Eliminating managerial sign-off for all decisions is much smoother and faster.”
What Lies Ahead
The effectiveness of this flexible methodology will be proven in the heat of competition when the season begins and there is a considerable amount at stake for Formula One, too. Cadillac have recruited as their reserve driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
