Approximately one year in the past at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were at last given the official approval as the world of Formula One's most recent participant for 2026. Building the organization from nothing has required a frenetic pace of work that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the NASA lunar mission. As the sport converges on Las Vegas this weekend, the team understand the deadline is approaching.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the season finale of the championship to be staged in the US, with just over 100 days to go before they make their debut for the inaugural time in Australia at the 2026 opener, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a sisyphean challenge, they are aware there will never be adequate time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, became part of the nascent operation in the spring of 2023 shortly after it was formed, when the organization were without even an official entry. He has been at its center ever since and enjoys a knowing grin when thinking about the ride.
“There might be a short period reflecting at what you’ve done and think: ‘Incredible, isn’t this fantastic what we have built in a short three-year period,’” Chester states. “But then the next minute you think: ‘Well, we’ve still got a significant amount to do.’”
An Unprecedented Challenge
Nick Chester had success at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s championship-winning seasons of 2005 and 2006 and was in command of engineering strategy at the then-new Mercedes electric racing team, but no previous experience has truly matched the challenge of bringing the iconic American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry backed by the owner, General Motors, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Building an F1 team from nothing, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he observes. “It's unparalleled. In an established team you rarely get the possibility to alter organizational mindset.”
With every day that elapses focus are increasingly concentrated on the impending decisive point in Melbourne and goals are being handled.
“One must presume that any new team entering the sport is likely to start at the back but simply getting on to the grid will be an achievement in itself,” Lowdon commented this year and while the CTO agreed with this sentiment he believed the team had a reputation to build as well.
“Our primary goal we want to show is that we belong on the grid,” he emphasizes. “So we turn up and we perform competently. We aim to demonstrate that we are a serious contender executing the correct procedures on the race track. Once we have demonstrated that we are a legitimate team, then we aim to demonstrate improvement from there on.”
Pilot Selection and Team Building Push
In late summer they signed Sergio Pérez and Valtteri as their racers for the 2026 season, a pair distinguished for their priceless expertise in operating at the leading positions in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes-AMG, and Bottas echoed the mood of fighting spirit.
“Naturally, we have a realistic outlook,” he said. “There’s going to be a huge amount of work to do, and we expect probably a tough opening, because this is Formula One. But we aren't joining to remain at the rear. In my view with this structure, with this group, these people, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to advance swiftly up to the pace and achieve good results.”
To realize that ambition hiring has been in top gear, with employees now up to in excess of 400 and planned to hit the target of 600 members rapidly. Complementing their existing facility at the Silverstone circuit, the team are in the process of completing an HQ at Fishers in the Indianapolis area and there is the General Motors facility in North Carolina, where they are constructing the facility to produce the 2029 engine, scheduled for 2029 – for now they will operate with Ferrari engines – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Germany. It is a intricate organisation, different from the trend in the sport for more centralization, and has prompted the fresh organizational mindset to which Chester alluded.
Space Mission Model
“It's closely based on the Apollo project,” stated the team principal just before the British Grand Prix in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we know how difficult it is. The timelines, are incredibly tight. Alright, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it can seem that way.”
So they have adopted, instead of the conventional chain of command, a flat management structure similar to that of NASA's, where there were a variety of specialist groups all tackling distinct elements of the program across a variety of locations.
“When you must follow a protocol where an issue arises and they raise it up to their team leader, that supervisor consults a leader at a different location, it goes back down the chain, it’s super slow,” notes Nick Chester. “So we empower people to handle things directly. Avoiding managerial sign-off for all decisions is much smoother and faster.”
Upcoming Challenges
The success of this flexible strategy will be tested in the intensity of Grand Prix next season and there is no little amount on the line for Formula One, too. Cadillac have taken on as their reserve driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta
