Approximately a full year ago at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately awarded the go-ahead as the world of Formula One's most recent participant for the 2026 season. Constructing the squad from the ground up has involved a hectic pace of work that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo moon landing. As F1 descends on Vegas this race weekend, the team understand time is getting tight.
The Countdown to Australia
At the season finale of the campaign to be hosted in the US, with just over three months to go before they hit the circuit for the maiden outing in Australia at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a monumental endeavor, they are aware there will not be adequate time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, joined the newly formed project in early 2023 not long after it was created, when the organization were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its core from that point and gets a amused expression when considering the experience.
“There might be a brief moment thinking back at what the team has achieved and think: ‘Incredible, what an achievement what the team has created in under three years,’” he says. “And then the next minute you think: ‘Yeah, there is still quite a lot to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Task
Nick Chester had success at the Renault team in the driver Fernando Alonso's title-winning campaigns of 2005 and 2006 and was in control of technical direction at the recently formed Mercedes Formula E team, but nothing has been quite like the challenge of bringing the quintessentially American Cadillac name, a works entry sponsored by the corporate entity, General Motors, into F1.
“Creating 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 existing team you don’t get the possibility to alter organizational mindset.”
With each day that elapses thoughts are more focused on the looming moment of truth in Melbourne and expectations are being set realistically.
“It's reasonable to expect that any new team coming in is probably going to finish last but merely participating will be an accomplishment in itself,” the team principal noted this year and while Chester shared this view he felt the squad had a reputation to build as well.
“The first thing we aim to demonstrate is that we should be there,” he says. “So we show up and we function efficiently. We want to show that we are a serious contender performing the right things on the circuit. Once we prove that our credentials are solid, then we will focus on progression from there on.”
Driver Lineup and Team Building Push
In August they recruited Checo Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their pilots for 2026, a pair distinguished for their priceless expertise in operating at the front in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull and Mercedes, and Bottas expressed the attitude of determined optimism.
“Of course, we have a realistic outlook,” he commented. “We have a huge amount of work to do, and we expect almost certainly a tough opening, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we’re not there to stay at the back. I believe with this structure, with this group, these personnel, it's entirely possible we won't be able to advance swiftly to a competitive level and achieve good results.”
To achieve that goal staff acquisition has been in top gear, with personnel now reaching in excess of 400 and intended to reach the target of 600 members quickly. In addition to their present headquarters at Silverstone, the squad are in the process of finishing an headquarters at Fishers, Indiana in Indy and there is the General Motors facility in North Carolina, where they are constructing the center to produce the power unit, planned for 2029 – until then they will use Ferrari engines – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne, Germany. It is a complex organisation, contrary to the trend in Formula One for increased consolidation, and has prompted the fresh organizational mindset to which Chester referred.
Space Mission Inspiration
“We've drawn heavily from the NASA moon mission,” remarked the team principal ahead of the British GP in the summer. “We are pragmatic, we recognize how challenging it is. The deadlines, they’re super, super, super short. OK, it's not a space expedition, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have adopted, as opposed to the usual hierarchical system, a non-hierarchical approach comparable to that of Nasa’s, where there were a variety of specialist groups all working on various components of the project in a multiple sites.
“If you have to go through a process where an issue arises and they escalate it to their supervisor, that supervisor talks to a leader at a different location, it travels back down, the process is very slow,” notes the CTO. “So we empower staff to take charge. Avoiding hierarchical consent for everything is so much cleaner and more rapid.”
What Lies Ahead
The effectiveness of this nimble approach will be evaluated in the intensity of Grand Prix in 2026 and there is a significant degree at stake for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their test driver the young American Colton Herta
