Approximately twelve months previously at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were at last given the go-ahead as Formula One’s latest participant for the 2026 season. Establishing the squad from nothing has required a frenetic pace of work that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the NASA lunar mission. As F1 descends on the Vegas strip this race weekend, Cadillac know time is getting tight.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the final race of the championship to be held in the United States, with around a hundred days to go before they take to the track for the inaugural time in Melbourne at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a monumental endeavor, they are conscious there will not be enough hours in the day.
The CTO, Nick Chester, became part of the newly formed team in the spring of 2023 soon after it was formed, when the squad were without even an official entry. He has been at its center ever since and enjoys a knowing grin when reflecting on the ride.
“You can have a short period thinking back at what you have accomplished and think: ‘Wow, isn’t this fantastic what we’ve done in under three years,’” he notes. “But then the very next instant you realize: ‘Yes, we’ve still got a great deal to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Task
Nick Chester enjoyed success at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s championship-winning campaigns of 2005 and 2006 and was in command of technical direction at the recently formed Mercedes electric racing team, but nothing has been quite like the task of bringing the all-American Cadillac brand, a works entry sponsored by the corporate entity, GM, into F1.
“Establishing an grand prix team from nothing, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he observes. “There's nothing comparable. In an well-set team you won't have the opportunity to transform team culture.”
With each passing day that goes by focus are sharper on the looming moment of truth in the Australian GP and expectations are being managed.
“One must presume that any new team joining the grid is going to be last but merely participating will be an achievement in itself,” Graeme Lowdon commented earlier this year and while Nick Chester echoed this he thought the squad had a reputation to build as well.
“The first thing we want to show is that we deserve to be there,” he emphasizes. “So we turn up and we function efficiently. We seek to prove that we’re a proper team doing the proper actions on the track. When we prove that we are a legitimate team, then we want to show improvement after that.”
Racing Talent and Recruitment Push
In late summer they recruited Sergio Perez and Valtteri as their drivers for the 2026 season, a duo distinguished for their vast knowledge in operating at the leading positions in two top-tier teams, Red Bull Racing and the Mercedes team, and Valtteri Bottas echoed the attitude of fighting spirit.
“Of course, we are pragmatic,” he said. “We face a massive task to do, and it will likely be probably a challenging beginning, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we’re not there to finish last. In my view with this setup, with this group, this staff, there is every reason that we shouldn’t be able to get relatively quickly to the front and enjoy some success.”
To realize that ambition hiring has been in overdrive, with staff now reaching in excess of 400 and scheduled to reach the goal of 600 members quickly. In addition to their existing facility at Silverstone, the organization are in the process of finishing an HQ at the Fishers location in Indy and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are developing the plant to manufacture the power unit, set for 2029 – until then they will operate with power from Ferrari – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Germany. It is a intricate organisation, contrary to the movement in Formula One for increased consolidation, and has led to the fresh organizational mindset to which Nick Chester alluded.
Apollo Inspiration
“It's closely based on the Apollo program,” remarked the team principal shortly before the British Grand Prix in the summer. “We’re realistic, we recognize how difficult it is. The schedules, are extremely compressed. OK, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it can seem that way.”
So they have adopted, as opposed to the usual hierarchical system, a flat management structure comparable to that of the space agency's, where there were a range of Apollo teams all focusing on distinct elements of the mission across a multiple sites.
“In a system where you follow a procedure where someone has a problem and they report it to their manager, that manager communicates with a manager somewhere else, it is relayed back, the process is very slow,” says Nick Chester. “So we empower people to take charge. Avoiding managerial sign-off for everything is so much cleaner and more rapid.”
What Lies Ahead
The effectiveness of this agile approach will be evaluated in the heat of competition when the season begins and there is no little amount at stake for F1, too. Cadillac have recruited as their reserve driver the young American Colton Herta
