A little more than one year previously at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately given the go-ahead as Formula One’s latest participant for the 2026 season. Constructing the squad from the ground up has involved a intense work rate that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the NASA lunar mission. As Formula One descends on the Vegas strip this race weekend, the team know the clock is ticking.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the last event of the campaign to be staged in the United States, with around 100 days to go before they make their debut for the maiden outing in Australia at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a sisyphean endeavor, they are aware there will not be sufficient time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, became part of the embryonic operation in March 2023 shortly after it was created, when the team were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its heart ever since and enjoys a amused expression when considering the ride.
“You might get a short period looking back at what you’ve done and say: ‘Amazing, isn’t this fantastic what the team has created in under three years,’” he notes. “Then the following moment you consider: ‘Well, we still have quite a lot to do.’”
An Unprecedented Challenge
Nick Chester achieved victories at Renault in Alonso's victorious seasons of 2005 and 2006 and was in command of technical direction at the recently formed Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no other project has quite compared with the task of introducing the quintessentially American Cadillac name, a works entry supported by the corporate entity, General Motors, into F1.
“Establishing an F1 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 rarely get the chance to transform team culture.”
With each passing day that elapses minds are more focused on the approaching decisive point in Australia and expectations are being handled.
“One must presume that any incoming team joining the grid is likely to start at the back but merely participating will be an achievement in itself,” the team principal noted recently and while Chester echoed this he thought the team had a reputation to build as well.
“The first thing we aim to demonstrate is that we should be there,” he says. “So we show up and we operate well. We want to show that this is a professional operation executing the proper actions on the circuit. When we have demonstrated that we’re really credible, then we want to show progression after that.”
Pilot Selection and Recruitment Drive
In the summer they signed Checo Pérez and Valtteri as their pilots for 2026, a tandem distinguished for their invaluable experience in operating at the front in two top-tier teams, the Red Bull team and the Mercedes team, and Bottas expressed the attitude of combative optimism.
“Of course, we’re realistic,” he commented. “We face a massive task to do, and it will likely be most likely a difficult start, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we’re not there to remain at the rear. I believe with this structure, with this group, these people, there is every reason that we shouldn’t be able to get relatively quickly to a competitive level and achieve good results.”
To that end recruitment has been in full swing, with staff now up to over 400 and planned to reach the goal of 600 members swiftly. Alongside their current base at the Silverstone circuit, the organization are in the phase of completing an main base at Fishers in Indy and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are building the center to build the power unit, set for 2029 – in the meantime they will run Ferrari power units – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a sophisticated structure, contrary to the movement in Formula One for greater centralisation, and has prompted the fresh organizational mindset to which Chester referred to.
Apollo Blueprint
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo project,” stated Lowdon shortly before the British Grand Prix in mid-season. “We’re realistic, we recognize how difficult it is. The timelines, they’re super, super, super short. OK, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have adopted, rather than the traditional management structure, a decentralized management similar to that of Nasa’s, where there were a range of project teams all working on different aspects of the program at a variety of locations.
“In a system where you follow a protocol where an issue arises and they raise it up to their manager, that leader consults a supervisor in another department, it goes back down the chain, it’s super slow,” notes Nick Chester. “We give authority to staff to take charge. Avoiding managerial sign-off for each action is much smoother and more rapid.”
What Lies Ahead
The effectiveness of this agile strategy will be tested in the heat of competition in 2026 and there is a considerable amount at stake for Formula One, too. Cadillac have signed as their reserve driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta
