Just over one year in the past at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately given the go-ahead as Formula One’s latest participant for 2026. Establishing the team from the ground up has involved a frenetic operating tempo that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the NASA lunar mission. As the sport arrives on the Vegas strip this race weekend, Cadillac understand the clock is ticking.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the final race of the championship to be held in the United States, with approximately 100 days to go before they take to the track for the maiden outing in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a sisyphean endeavor, they are conscious there will not be adequate time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, became part of the embryonic project in March 2023 shortly after it was established, when the organization were without even an approved entry. He has been at its center ever since and enjoys a wry smile when considering the ride.
“There might be five minutes thinking back at what you’ve done and go: ‘Amazing, isn’t this fantastic what we’ve done in less than three years,’” Chester states. “And then the following moment you consider: ‘Yes, we’ve still got a great deal to do.’”
A Unique Challenge
Nick Chester had success at Renault in the driver Fernando Alonso's title-winning seasons of 2005/2006 and was in command of technical development at the then-new Mercedes Formula E team, but no previous experience has quite compared with the mission of bringing the iconic American Cadillac name, a factory team sponsored by the parent company, General Motors, into F1.
“Establishing an Formula One team from nothing, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he observes. “It is like nothing else. In an well-set team you don’t get the opportunity to transform cultural approach.”
With every day that elapses minds are sharper on the impending decisive point in Australia and goals are being managed.
“It's reasonable to expect that a brand-new squad entering the sport is going to be last but simply getting on to the grid will be an accomplishment in itself,” Graeme Lowdon commented this year and while the CTO echoed this he felt the squad had a statement to make as well.
“The initial objective we want to show is that we belong on the grid,” he emphasizes. “In order that we turn up and we perform competently. We seek to prove that we are a serious contender executing the correct procedures on the circuit. When we’ve shown that our credentials are solid, then we aim to demonstrate progression subsequently.”
Driver Lineup and Team Building Effort
In August they contracted Sergio Pérez and Valtteri as their racers for 2026, a duo notable for their invaluable experience in performing at the front in two top-tier teams, Red Bull and Mercedes, and Bottas reflected the sentiment of determined optimism.
“Certainly, we have a realistic outlook,” he commented. “We have a huge amount of work to do, and it will likely be almost certainly a difficult start, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we’re not there to finish last. I am confident with this structure, with these individuals, these personnel, there is every reason that we won't be able to advance swiftly to the front and achieve good results.”
To achieve that goal recruitment has been in overdrive, with employees now up to in excess of 400 and scheduled to hit the target of 600 rapidly. In addition to their existing facility at the UK base, the squad are in the midst of finishing an HQ at Fishers, Indiana in Indianapolis and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are constructing the plant to produce the 2029 engine, planned for 2029 – until then they will use Ferrari power units – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a intricate structure, at odds with the movement in the sport for more centralization, and has inspired the fresh organizational mindset to which Chester alluded.
NASA Blueprint
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo project,” remarked Lowdon shortly before the Silverstone race in the summer. “We have a clear-eyed view, we know how difficult it is. The deadlines, are incredibly tight. Alright, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have implemented, rather than the traditional management structure, a flat management structure akin to that of the space agency's, where there were a variety of specialist groups all tackling different aspects of the mission across a multiple sites.
“In a system where you follow a procedure where a challenge emerges and they report it to their supervisor, that manager consults a leader in another department, it goes back down the chain, the process is very slow,” says Nick Chester. “So we empower staff to really get on with it. Avoiding management approval for everything is so much cleaner and faster.”
The Future
The success of this nimble methodology will be tested in the heat of competition next season and there is a considerable amount at stake for F1, too. Cadillac have signed as their development driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta
