Approximately one year ago at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were at last given the official approval as F1's latest entrant for the 2026 season. Establishing the team from the ground up has involved a frenetic work rate that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the NASA lunar mission. As F1 converges on Vegas this weekend, the team understand time is getting tight.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the final race of the championship to be held in the United States, with approximately three months to go before they take to the track for the maiden outing in Australia at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a sisyphean task, they are cognizant there will not be sufficient time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, became part of the embryonic team in March 2023 shortly after it was established, when the team were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its center from that point and enjoys a wry smile when reflecting on the ride.
“There might be five minutes reflecting at what you have accomplished and go: ‘Wow, how impressive what the team has created in less than three years,’” he notes. “And then the following moment you consider: ‘Yes, we still have a significant amount to do.’”
An Unprecedented Challenge
Chester enjoyed success at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s title-winning campaigns of 2005/2006 and was in control of engineering strategy at the new Mercedes Formula E team, but no other project has been quite like the challenge of bringing the all-American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the parent company, General Motors Corporation, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Establishing an grand prix team from nothing, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” Chester remarks. “It's unparalleled. In an well-set team you don’t get the chance to change team culture.”
With each day that elapses focus are sharper on the looming decisive point in the Australian GP and expectations are being handled.
“One must presume that any new team joining the grid is probably going to finish last but simply getting on to the grid will be an accomplishment in itself,” Graeme Lowdon noted earlier this year and while the CTO echoed this he felt the squad had a point to prove as well.
“The first thing we want to show is that we should be there,” he emphasizes. “So that we turn up and we perform competently. We seek to prove that we’re a proper team executing the correct procedures on the track. When we prove that we are a legitimate team, then we will focus on forward movement subsequently.”
Pilot Selection and Team Building Effort
In the summer they signed Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their pilots for the 2026 season, a tandem notable for their invaluable experience in performing at the front in two top-tier teams, the Red Bull team and the Mercedes team, and Valtteri Bottas reflected the sentiment of determined optimism.
“Naturally, we’re realistic,” Bottas stated. “There’s going to be a huge amount of work to do, and it’s going to be probably a tough opening, because it is F1. But our goal isn't to remain at the rear. I am confident given this organization, with these individuals, these personnel, there is every reason that we shouldn’t be able to advance swiftly up to the pace and enjoy some success.”
To that end hiring has been in overdrive, with personnel now reaching over 400 and intended to attain the target of 600 members rapidly. Alongside their current base at the Silverstone circuit, the team are in the midst of completing an HQ at Fishers in Indy and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, where they are constructing the center to produce the new engine, planned for 2029 – in the meantime they will run power from Ferrari – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a intricate structure, at odds with the direction in F1 for increased consolidation, and has inspired the fresh organizational mindset to which Nick Chester alluded.
NASA Inspiration
“It's closely based on the Apollo project,” stated Lowdon ahead of the British GP in the summer. “We have a clear-eyed view, we understand how challenging it is. The timelines, are extremely compressed. Alright, it's not a space expedition, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have adopted, instead of the usual hierarchical system, a flat management structure comparable to that of NASA's, where there were a variety of project teams all focusing on distinct elements of the project at a different facilities.
“In a system where you follow a process where an issue arises and they raise it up to their supervisor, that supervisor consults a manager somewhere else, it travels back down, it’s super slow,” explains Chester. “So we empower staff to take charge. Avoiding management approval for everything is so much cleaner and quicker.”
Upcoming Challenges
The success of this flexible methodology will be evaluated in the pressure of racing in 2026 and there is a considerable amount at stake for Formula One, too. Cadillac have taken on as their reserve driver the young Californian Colton Herta
