Approximately twelve months in the past at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately awarded the green light as the world of Formula One's newest participant for 2026. Establishing the squad from nothing has required a hectic pace of work that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the NASA lunar mission. As the sport converges on Vegas this weekend, the team are aware the deadline is approaching.
The Race Against Time to Australia
At the final race of the championship to be held in the United States, with around 100 days to go before they take to the track for the inaugural time in Australia at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a monumental challenge, they are cognizant there will never be sufficient time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, became part of the nascent project in March 2023 shortly after it was formed, when the team were without even an approved entry. He has been at its center ever since and has a wry smile when considering the ride.
“You can have a short period thinking back at what you’ve done and go: ‘Amazing, isn’t this fantastic what we have built in a short three-year period,’” he says. “But then the very next instant you think: ‘Yes, there is still quite a lot to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Opportunity
Chester enjoyed success at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s championship-winning campaigns of 2005/2006 and was in command of engineering strategy at the then-new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but nothing has truly matched the mission of bringing the iconic American Cadillac name, a works entry backed by the owner, General Motors Corporation, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Creating an Formula One team from scratch, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he says. “There's nothing comparable. In an well-set team you rarely get the chance to change team culture.”
With each passing day that goes by focus are more focused on the looming moment of truth in the Australian GP and targets are being set realistically.
“One must presume that any incoming team entering the sport is going to be last but just making it to the starting line will be an feat in itself,” Lowdon noted this year and while Nick Chester shared this view he felt the organization had a statement to make as well.
“Our primary goal we intend to prove is that we belong on the grid,” he says. “So we show up and we function efficiently. We want to show that we are a serious contender performing the right things on the race track. After we’ve shown that we are a legitimate team, then we will focus on improvement after that.”
Pilot Selection and Hiring Drive
In the summer they signed Sergio Perez and Valtteri as their pilots for 2026, a duo distinguished for their vast knowledge in operating at the leading positions in two of the sport’s biggest teams, the Red Bull team and Mercedes, and the Finnish driver echoed the mood of fighting spirit.
“Of course, we’re realistic,” Bottas stated. “There’s going to be a mountain of work to do, and it’s going to be probably a difficult start, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we aren't joining to finish last. I am confident with this setup, with these individuals, these people, it's entirely possible we won't be able to advance swiftly to the front and enjoy some success.”
To realize that ambition hiring has been in full swing, with personnel now up to in excess of 400 and intended to reach the target of 600 members swiftly. In addition to their current base at the Silverstone circuit, the organization are in the phase of building an main base at the Fishers location in Indy and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, where they are building the center to produce the new engine, scheduled for 2029 – for now they will operate with Ferrari power units – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Germany. It is a complex organization, different from the direction in F1 for more centralization, and has inspired the new cultural approach to which the CTO referred.
Space Mission Inspiration
“It’s highly modelled on the NASA moon mission,” said Lowdon shortly before the British Grand Prix in July. “We are pragmatic, we recognize how difficult it is. The deadlines, they’re super, super, super short. Well, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it can seem that way.”
So they have implemented, rather than the traditional management structure, a non-hierarchical approach comparable to that of the space agency's, where there were a assortment of Apollo teams all tackling various components of the mission at a variety of locations.
“If you have to go through a procedure where an issue arises and they report it to their manager, that supervisor consults a supervisor at a different location, it goes back down the chain, it’s super slow,” explains Chester. “We give authority to team members to handle things directly. Eliminating management approval for everything is far more efficient and faster.”
The Future
The effectiveness of this nimble strategy will be proven in the intensity of Grand Prix in 2026 and there is a significant degree at stake for F1, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their reserve driver the young American Colton Herta
