Just over twelve months ago at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were at last awarded the official approval as Formula One’s most recent entrant for the 2026 season. Building the organization from nothing has involved a frenetic work rate that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo moon landing. As Formula One descends on Las Vegas this weekend, the team are aware the clock is ticking.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the last event of the season to be hosted in the United States, with approximately 100 days to go before they hit the circuit for the inaugural 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 aware there will never be sufficient time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, joined the newly formed operation in the spring of 2023 not long after it was created, when the organization were without even an approved entry. He has been at its center since then and has a amused expression when reflecting on the journey.
“You can have a short period reflecting at what you’ve done and go: ‘Incredible, isn’t this fantastic what we’ve done in less than three years,’” he says. “But then the following moment you think: ‘Yeah, we’ve still got quite a lot to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Challenge
Chester had success at the Renault team in Alonso's victorious seasons of 2005/2006 and was in command of technical direction at the new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no previous experience has quite compared with the mission of introducing the iconic American Cadillac brand, a factory team backed by the parent company, General Motors Corporation, into F1.
“Building an Formula One team from the ground up, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he observes. “There's nothing comparable. In an existing team you won't have the opportunity to alter organizational mindset.”
With each passing day that elapses thoughts are more focused on the impending critical moment in Melbourne and targets are being handled.
“One must presume that any incoming team joining the grid is likely to start at the back but just making it to the starting line will be an feat in itself,” Lowdon commented recently and while Nick Chester shared this view he believed the team had a point to prove as well.
“The first thing we want to show is that we belong on the grid,” Chester explains. “In order that we turn up and we perform competently. We want to show that we are a serious contender executing the proper actions on the circuit. Once we have demonstrated that we are a legitimate team, then we will focus on progression from there on.”
Driver Lineup and Recruitment Effort
In the summer they recruited Sergio Perez and Valtteri as their racers for 2026, a pair remarkable for their priceless expertise in operating at the leading positions in two top-tier teams, Red Bull and Mercedes-AMG, and Bottas reflected the attitude of fighting spirit.
“Of course, we’re realistic,” he said. “We have a massive task to do, and we expect almost certainly a difficult start, because it is F1. But we aren't joining to remain at the rear. I believe with this setup, with this team, these personnel, there’s no reason why we can't manage to progress rapidly to a competitive level and achieve good results.”
To that end recruitment has been in top gear, with staff now at over 400 and intended to attain the target of six hundred rapidly. Complementing their existing facility 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 North Carolina, where they are constructing the plant to produce the power unit, scheduled for 2029 – in the meantime they will run Ferrari power units – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a complex structure, contrary to the trend in the sport for increased consolidation, and has prompted the innovative team culture to which Nick Chester alluded.
Apollo Inspiration
“It’s highly modelled on the NASA moon mission,” said the team principal just before the British GP in mid-season. “We have a clear-eyed view, we understand how difficult it is. The timelines, are extremely compressed. Well, it's not a space expedition, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have adopted, instead of the conventional chain of command, a flat management structure comparable to that of the space agency's, where there were a range of specialist groups all focusing on distinct elements of the project at a different facilities.
“When you must follow a procedure where a challenge emerges and they raise it up to their team leader, that manager talks to a leader in another department, it travels back down, it becomes inefficient,” notes Nick Chester. “So we empower people to really get on with it. Eliminating managerial sign-off for everything is much smoother and faster.”
Upcoming Challenges
The success of this flexible strategy will be proven in the pressure of racing next season and there is a significant degree riding on this for the sport, too. Cadillac have signed as their test driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta
