Approximately a full year in the past at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately granted the go-ahead as F1's latest participant for the 2026 season. Building the team from nothing has entailed a frenetic operating tempo that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo program. As Formula One arrives on Vegas this race weekend, the team are aware time is getting tight.
The Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the season finale of the season to be staged in the United States, with just over 100 days to go before they make their debut for the first time in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a never-ending task, they are cognizant there will not be sufficient time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, came aboard the embryonic operation in early 2023 soon after it was created, when the team were without even an approved entry. He has been at its heart ever since and enjoys a wry smile when thinking about the ride.
“You might get a short period reflecting at what the team has achieved and go: ‘Amazing, what an achievement what we’ve done in under three years,’” he notes. “Then the following moment you realize: ‘Yeah, there is still a significant amount to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Challenge
Nick Chester enjoyed success at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s championship-winning seasons of 2005 and 2006 and was in charge of technical development at the then-new Mercedes electric racing team, but nothing has been quite like the challenge of bringing the all-American Cadillac name, a works entry backed by the corporate entity, General Motors Corporation, into Formula One.
“Establishing an grand prix team from nothing, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” Chester remarks. “It's unparalleled. In an established team you won't have the possibility to alter organizational mindset.”
With each passing day that passes thoughts are more focused on the looming decisive point in Melbourne and expectations are being handled.
“It's reasonable to expect that any incoming team entering the sport is going to be last but simply getting on to the grid will be an feat in itself,” Lowdon stated earlier this year and while Chester echoed this he believed the squad had a reputation to build as well.
“The first thing we want to show is that we deserve to be there,” he says. “In order that we arrive and we operate well. We aim to demonstrate that we are a serious contender executing the proper actions on the circuit. When we’ve shown that we’re really credible, then we want to show forward movement after that.”
Racing Talent and Team Building Effort
In late summer they signed Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a pair remarkable for their invaluable experience in operating at the leading positions in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull and Mercedes, and Bottas echoed the attitude of combative optimism.
“Of course, we have a realistic outlook,” Bottas stated. “There’s going to be a mountain of work to do, and we expect almost certainly a difficult start, because this is Formula One. But we aren't joining to stay at the back. I believe given this organization, with this group, this staff, there is every reason that we shouldn’t be able to progress rapidly to a competitive level and achieve good results.”
To realize that ambition recruitment has been in top gear, with staff now reaching over 400 and intended to attain the objective of six hundred swiftly. Alongside their present headquarters at Silverstone, the squad are in the midst of building an HQ at Fishers in Indy and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, where they are constructing the plant to manufacture the power unit, set for 2029 – until then they will use Ferrari power units – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Germany. It is a sophisticated organisation, different from the movement in the sport for greater centralisation, and has prompted the fresh organizational mindset to which Chester referred to.
NASA Inspiration
“It’s highly modelled on the NASA moon mission,” said Graeme Lowdon just before the British Grand Prix in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we know how challenging it is. The schedules, are incredibly tight. Alright, it's not a space expedition, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have implemented, rather than the traditional management structure, a decentralized management similar to that of Nasa’s, where there were a assortment of specialist groups all working on different aspects of the mission at a variety of locations.
“If you have to go through a procedure where an issue arises and they raise it up to their supervisor, that manager consults a supervisor at a different location, it is relayed back, it’s super slow,” explains the CTO. “We give authority to people to really get on with it. Moving away from managerial sign-off for each action is much smoother and faster.”
What Lies Ahead
The efficacy of this nimble strategy will be evaluated in the heat of competition in 2026 and there is a significant degree at stake for the sport, too. Cadillac have recruited as their test driver the young American Colton Herta
