Approximately a full year ago at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally granted the go-ahead as Formula One’s newest entry for 2026. Establishing the squad from the ground up has involved a intense work rate that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the NASA lunar mission. As F1 descends on Las Vegas this weekend, the team understand the deadline is approaching.
The Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the last event of the campaign to be hosted in the United States, with just over 100 days to go before they take to the track for the inaugural time in Australia at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a never-ending endeavor, they are conscious there will not be enough hours in the day.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, came aboard the embryonic operation in the spring of 2023 soon after it was formed, when the organization were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its heart ever since and has a wry smile when thinking about the ride.
“You can have a brief moment thinking back at what you’ve done and say: ‘Incredible, how impressive what we’ve done in a short three-year period,’” he says. “But then the next minute you consider: ‘Yeah, we’ve still got a great deal to do.’”
An Unprecedented Task
The CTO had success at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s title-winning years of the mid-2000s and was in charge of engineering strategy at the new Mercedes Formula E team, but no previous experience has truly matched the challenge of launching the iconic American Cadillac marque, a manufacturer-backed entry sponsored by the owner, GM, into Formula One.
“Establishing an Formula One team from the ground up, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he observes. “It is like nothing else. In an established team you won't have the chance to transform team culture.”
With every day that passes minds are sharper on the impending moment of truth in the Australian GP and targets are being managed.
“You have to assume that a brand-new squad joining the grid is likely to start at the back but just making it to the starting line will be an feat in itself,” the team principal stated recently and while Nick Chester echoed this he felt the squad had a reputation to build as well.
“Our primary goal we aim to demonstrate is that we belong on the grid,” he emphasizes. “In order that we show up and we perform competently. We aim to demonstrate that we’re a proper team executing the correct procedures on the circuit. After we’ve shown that we’re really credible, then we will focus on forward movement from there on.”
Racing Talent and Recruitment Effort
In late summer they contracted Checo Pérez and Bottas as their racers for 2026, a duo distinguished for their invaluable experience in operating at the sharp end in two top-tier teams, Red Bull and Mercedes, and the Finnish driver reflected the mood of combative optimism.
“Of course, we’re realistic,” Bottas stated. “We face a massive task to do, and we expect most likely a tough opening, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we’re not there to finish last. I believe with this structure, with this team, these people, there is every reason that we can't manage to get relatively quickly up to the pace and taste victory.”
To that end recruitment has been in top gear, with personnel now reaching more than 400 and scheduled to hit the goal of six hundred swiftly. Alongside their present headquarters at the Silverstone circuit, the squad are in the phase of finishing an main base at the Fishers location in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM works in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are developing the plant to produce the power unit, scheduled for 2029 – for now they will use Ferrari engines – and the aerodynamic facility in Germany. It is a complex structure, at odds with the direction in F1 for increased consolidation, and has inspired the fresh organizational mindset to which the CTO alluded.
Space Mission Model
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo project,” remarked Lowdon just before the Silverstone race in the summer. “We’re realistic, we understand how tough it is. The deadlines, are incredibly tight. Alright, it's not a space expedition, but it can seem that way.”
So they have embraced, instead of the traditional management structure, a flat management structure similar to that of NASA's, where there were a assortment of specialist groups all focusing on distinct elements of the program in a variety of locations.
“When you must follow a process where an issue arises and they escalate it to their team leader, that manager consults a supervisor in another department, it travels back down, the process is very slow,” explains Nick Chester. “Therefore we enable staff to handle things directly. Eliminating management approval for all decisions is so much cleaner and more rapid.”
What Lies Ahead
The effectiveness of this agile methodology will be tested in the intensity of Grand Prix in 2026 and there is no little amount riding on this for the sport, too. Cadillac have taken on as their test driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta
