Just over twelve months previously at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately granted the go-ahead as Formula One’s latest participant for the 2026 season. Building the team from scratch has required a intense operating tempo that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the NASA lunar mission. As Formula One converges on the Vegas strip this weekend, Cadillac know the deadline is approaching.
The Countdown to Australia
At the last event of the season to be staged in the America, with approximately a hundred days to go before they take to the track for the first time in Melbourne at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a monumental task, they are conscious there will not be enough hours in the day.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, came aboard the newly formed project in early 2023 soon after it was formed, when the organization were without even an official entry. He has been at its center since then and has a amused expression when thinking about the ride.
“You might get five minutes looking back at what you’ve done and think: ‘Wow, what an achievement what the team has created in under three years,’” Chester states. “But then the following moment you realize: ‘Yeah, we’ve still got quite a lot to do.’”
A Unique Challenge
Chester enjoyed success at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s title-winning seasons of 2005 and 2006 and was in control of technical direction at the then-new Mercedes electric racing team, but no previous experience has been quite like the task of introducing the iconic American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the owner, General Motors, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Establishing an F1 team from the ground up, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” Chester remarks. “It is like nothing else. In an established team you don’t get the opportunity to change cultural approach.”
With each passing day that elapses thoughts are sharper on the approaching moment of truth in the Australian GP and goals are being set realistically.
“One must presume that a brand-new squad entering the sport is probably going to finish last but simply getting on to the grid will be an achievement in itself,” Graeme Lowdon commented this year and while the CTO shared this view he believed the team had a reputation to build as well.
“The first thing we want to show is that we belong on the grid,” he says. “In order that we turn up and we function efficiently. We aim to demonstrate that we are a serious contender doing the correct procedures on the race track. After we have demonstrated that we’re really credible, then we aim to demonstrate improvement after that.”
Racing Talent and Recruitment Effort
In the summer they contracted Checo Pérez and Valtteri as their pilots for the 2026 season, a tandem notable for their invaluable experience in operating at the sharp end in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes-AMG, and Valtteri Bottas expressed the mood of fighting spirit.
“Of course, we are pragmatic,” he said. “We have a huge amount of work to do, and it will likely be probably a tough opening, because this is Formula One. But our goal isn't to remain at the rear. I believe with this setup, with this team, these personnel, it's entirely possible we shouldn’t be able to get relatively quickly to the front and enjoy some success.”
To that end recruitment has been in overdrive, with employees now at over 400 and planned to hit the target of 600 rapidly. In addition to their current base at the Silverstone circuit, the team are in the midst of finishing an main base at Fishers in Indianapolis and there is the General Motors facility in North Carolina, where they are developing the facility to build the power unit, planned for 2029 – in the meantime they will operate with Ferrari engines – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne. It is a sophisticated organisation, at odds with the trend in F1 for more centralization, and has prompted the innovative team culture to which Chester referred to.
NASA Blueprint
“We've drawn heavily from the NASA moon mission,” stated the team principal just before the British Grand Prix in July. “We are pragmatic, we recognize how challenging it is. The timelines, they’re super, super, super short. Alright, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it can seem that way.”
So they have embraced, instead of the usual hierarchical system, a non-hierarchical approach akin to that of Nasa’s, where there were a variety of project teams all focusing on distinct elements of the mission across a variety of locations.
“When you must follow a procedure where someone has a problem and they raise it up to their manager, that manager communicates with a manager in another department, it goes back down the chain, it becomes inefficient,” explains the CTO. “Therefore we enable people to handle things directly. Avoiding management approval for each action is so much cleaner and faster.”
What Lies Ahead
The efficacy of this nimble approach will be evaluated in the pressure of racing in 2026 and there is a significant degree at stake for F1, too. Cadillac have taken on as their development driver the young American Colton Herta
