Approximately a full year in the past at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately awarded the official approval as the world of Formula One's newest entry for 2026. Establishing the squad from scratch has involved a frenetic pace of work that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo program. As F1 arrives on Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac are aware time is getting tight.
The Countdown to Australia
At the season finale of the championship to be staged in the US, with approximately 100 days to go before they hit the circuit for the first time in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a sisyphean endeavor, they are cognizant there will not be enough hours in the day.
The CTO, Nick Chester, joined the nascent team in early 2023 soon after it was created, when the team were without even an approved entry. He has been at its center from that point and has a wry smile when reflecting on the ride.
“You can have five minutes reflecting at what you’ve done and think: ‘Incredible, what an achievement what we’ve done in less than three years,’” Chester states. “But then the next minute you think: ‘Yeah, there is still a great deal to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Challenge
The CTO enjoyed success at the Renault team in Alonso's title-winning campaigns of 2005 and 2006 and was in command of engineering strategy at the then-new Mercedes Formula E team, but no other project has quite compared with the mission of introducing the iconic American Cadillac marque, a factory team backed by the owner, General Motors Corporation, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Building an grand prix team from nothing, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he observes. “There's nothing comparable. In an well-set team you won't have the opportunity to alter organizational mindset.”
With each passing day that passes minds are sharper on the impending decisive point in Australia and goals are being handled.
“You have to assume that any new team entering the sport is going to be last but just making it to the starting line will be an feat in itself,” Graeme Lowdon stated recently and while Chester agreed with this sentiment he felt the team had a reputation to build as well.
“The initial objective we want to show is that we should be there,” he says. “So we turn up and we function efficiently. We want to show that we are a serious contender performing the proper actions on the circuit. Once we have demonstrated that we are a legitimate team, then we want to show progression from there on.”
Pilot Selection and Recruitment Push
In the summer they signed Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their pilots for 2026, a duo notable for their vast knowledge in competing at the front in two top-tier teams, Red Bull and Mercedes-AMG, and Valtteri Bottas reflected the attitude of combative optimism.
“Naturally, we’re realistic,” he commented. “We have a massive task to do, and it’s going to be most likely a tough opening, because this is Formula One. But we’re not there to remain at the rear. In my view with this structure, with this group, this staff, it's entirely possible we won't be able to progress rapidly to the front and enjoy some success.”
To that end recruitment has been in top gear, with personnel now at in excess of 400 and scheduled to attain the goal of 600 swiftly. Alongside their present headquarters at Silverstone, the organization are in the phase of building an headquarters at the Fishers location in Indianapolis and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, where they are building the facility to manufacture the 2029 engine, set for 2029 – until then they will use power from Ferrari – and the aerodynamic facility in Germany. It is a complex organization, at odds with the trend in F1 for increased consolidation, and has led to the new cultural approach to which Chester referred to.
Apollo Blueprint
“It's closely based on the NASA moon mission,” stated the team principal just before the British GP in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we know how challenging it is. The deadlines, they’re super, super, super short. Alright, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have adopted, rather than the usual hierarchical system, a flat management structure similar to that of NASA's, where there were a range of project teams all tackling various components of the mission across a different facilities.
“When you must follow a protocol where an issue arises and they report it to their manager, that manager talks to a leader somewhere else, it travels back down, it becomes inefficient,” notes Nick Chester. “We give authority to staff to handle things directly. Moving away from hierarchical consent for all decisions is much smoother and quicker.”
Upcoming Challenges
The success of this agile strategy will be proven in the intensity of Grand Prix when the season begins and there is no little amount riding on this for F1, too. Cadillac have signed as their test driver the young American Colton Herta
