Just over one year previously at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally granted the green light as Formula One’s most recent participant for 2026. Building the team from nothing has entailed a hectic operating tempo that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo program. As Formula One converges on Vegas this weekend, Cadillac are aware time is getting tight.
The Race Against Time to Australia
At the season finale of the championship to be staged in the US, with just over 100 days to go before they make their debut for the inaugural time in Australia at the 2026 opener, the Cadillac F1 project have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a never-ending endeavor, they are cognizant there will never be enough hours in the day.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, became part of the nascent team in the spring of 2023 shortly after it was created, when the team were without even an official entry. He has been at its core since then and has a amused expression when considering the journey.
“You might get a brief moment looking back at what you have accomplished and think: ‘Amazing, how impressive what the team has created in a short three-year period,’” he notes. “Then the following moment you think: ‘Well, we still have a significant amount to do.’”
A Unique Opportunity
Nick Chester achieved victories at the Renault team in Alonso's victorious years of 2005 and 2006 and was in control of technical direction at the new Mercedes Formula E team, but no other project has been quite like the task of launching the all-American Cadillac name, a factory team sponsored by the corporate entity, GM, into Formula One.
“Creating an grand prix team from the ground up, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” Chester remarks. “It's unparalleled. In an existing team you rarely get the possibility to transform organizational mindset.”
With each day that elapses minds are sharper on the looming critical moment in Australia and goals are being handled.
“You have to assume that a brand-new squad entering the sport is likely to start at the back but just making it to the starting line will be an feat in itself,” Graeme Lowdon noted this year and while Nick Chester agreed with this sentiment he thought the squad had a point to prove as well.
“Our primary goal we want to show is that we belong on the grid,” he emphasizes. “So we turn up and we operate well. We seek to prove that we’re a proper team executing the proper actions on the track. When we prove that our credentials are solid, then we aim to demonstrate forward movement from there on.”
Driver Lineup and Hiring Push
In late summer they contracted Sergio Pérez and Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a duo remarkable for their priceless expertise in performing at the front in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull and Mercedes-AMG, and Valtteri Bottas echoed the mood of combative optimism.
“Naturally, we’re realistic,” Bottas stated. “We face a mountain of work to do, and it’s going to be most likely a tough opening, because it is F1. But our goal isn't to finish last. In my view given this organization, with these individuals, these people, there’s no reason why we won't be able to advance swiftly to the front and taste victory.”
To realize that ambition hiring has been in full swing, with personnel now at in excess of 400 and planned to attain the goal of 600 members rapidly. Complementing their current base at the Silverstone circuit, the team are in the process of completing an main base at the Fishers location in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, where they are constructing the center to manufacture the power unit, scheduled for the 2029 season – in the meantime they will operate with power from Ferrari – and the aerodynamic facility in Germany. It is a sophisticated organization, different from the movement in Formula One for increased consolidation, and has prompted the innovative team culture to which Nick Chester alluded.
NASA Inspiration
“It’s highly modelled on the NASA moon mission,” said the team principal just before the British GP in the summer. “We have a clear-eyed view, we understand how difficult it is. The timelines, they’re super, super, super short. Alright, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have implemented, as opposed to the traditional management structure, a decentralized management comparable to that of Nasa’s, where there were a range of specialist groups all tackling distinct elements of the project at a different facilities.
“In a system where you follow a protocol where an issue arises and they raise it up to their team leader, that manager talks to a supervisor at a different location, it is relayed back, it’s super slow,” says Chester. “We give authority to team members to take charge. Moving away from managerial sign-off for everything is much smoother and quicker.”
What Lies Ahead
The effectiveness of this nimble strategy will be evaluated in the heat of competition next season and there is a considerable amount riding on this for F1, too. Cadillac have signed as their development driver the young American Colton Herta
