Just over a full year in the past at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were at last given the go-ahead as Formula One’s most recent participant for the 2026 season. Establishing the organization from the ground up has involved a intense operating tempo that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the NASA lunar mission. As Formula One descends on Las Vegas this weekend, Cadillac are aware the deadline is approaching.
The Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the season finale of the championship to be hosted in the US, with just over 100 days to go before they make their debut for the maiden outing in Australia at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a never-ending endeavor, they are aware there will not be enough hours in the day.
The CTO, Nick Chester, came aboard the embryonic team in early 2023 soon after it was formed, when the organization were without even an official entry. He has been at its heart since then and enjoys a wry smile when considering the experience.
“You can have a short period thinking back at what you’ve done and think: ‘Amazing, how impressive what we have built in a short three-year period,’” Chester states. “And then the following moment you consider: ‘Well, we’ve still got quite a lot to do.’”
An Unprecedented Challenge
Nick Chester enjoyed success at the Renault team in Alonso's title-winning campaigns of the mid-2000s and was in charge of engineering strategy at the recently formed Mercedes Formula E team, but nothing has been quite like the task of introducing the all-American Cadillac marque, a factory team supported by the corporate entity, General Motors Corporation, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Creating an grand prix team from scratch, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he observes. “There's nothing comparable. In an established team you won't have the opportunity to transform organizational mindset.”
With each passing day that elapses minds are increasingly concentrated on the approaching decisive point in Melbourne and expectations are being managed.
“It's reasonable to expect that any incoming team coming in is probably going to finish last but merely participating will be an feat in itself,” Graeme Lowdon noted this year and while the CTO echoed this he believed the team had a reputation to build as well.
“Our primary goal we aim to demonstrate is that we deserve to be there,” Chester explains. “So that we arrive and we perform competently. We want to show that we are a serious contender doing the right things on the circuit. Once we’ve shown that our credentials are solid, then we aim to demonstrate forward movement from there on.”
Pilot Selection and Recruitment Drive
In August they contracted Sergio Pérez and Valtteri as their pilots for the 2026 season, a duo notable for their vast knowledge in performing at the sharp end in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes-AMG, and Valtteri Bottas expressed the sentiment of combative optimism.
“Certainly, we’re realistic,” he said. “We face a mountain of work to do, and we expect probably a tough opening, because it is F1. But our goal isn't to remain at the rear. I believe with this structure, with this group, these personnel, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to advance swiftly to the front and enjoy some success.”
To achieve that goal hiring has been in overdrive, with staff now up to more than 400 and intended to hit the goal of 600 members swiftly. In addition to their existing facility at Silverstone, the organization are in the midst of building an HQ at Fishers, Indiana in Indianapolis and there is the General Motors facility in North Carolina, where they are building the plant to produce the 2029 engine, scheduled for 2029 – in the meantime they will use Ferrari engines – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a complex organisation, contrary to the trend in the sport for greater centralisation, and has prompted the fresh organizational mindset to which the CTO referred.
Apollo Blueprint
“It’s highly modelled on the NASA moon mission,” stated the team principal shortly before the British GP in July. “We are pragmatic, we recognize how challenging it is. The deadlines, they’re super, super, super short. Well, it's not a space expedition, but it can seem that way.”
So they have implemented, as opposed to the traditional management structure, a decentralized management akin to that of Nasa’s, where there were a range of specialist groups all tackling distinct elements of the project across 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 leader communicates with a leader in another department, it goes back down the chain, the process is very slow,” notes Nick Chester. “Therefore we enable people to really get on with it. Avoiding managerial sign-off for each action is far more efficient and quicker.”
What Lies Ahead
The effectiveness of this flexible methodology will be evaluated in the intensity of Grand Prix next season and there is no little amount riding on this for F1, too. Cadillac have recruited as their test driver the young American Colton Herta
