Just over a full year ago at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally given the go-ahead as Formula One’s newest participant for 2026. Constructing the squad from scratch has required a hectic pace of work that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo moon landing. As Formula One descends on the Vegas strip this weekend, Cadillac know the clock is ticking.
The Countdown to Australia
At the last event of the championship to be held in the United States, with just over a hundred days to go before they make their debut for the inaugural time in Australia at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a never-ending task, they are conscious there will not be enough hours in the day.
The CTO, Nick Chester, became part of the nascent operation in early 2023 not long after it was established, when the organization were without even an approved entry. He has been at its heart since then and enjoys a knowing grin when reflecting on the experience.
“There might be a brief moment reflecting at what the team has achieved and go: ‘Amazing, isn’t this fantastic what the team has created in a short three-year period,’” he says. “And then the next minute you think: ‘Yeah, we’ve still got quite a lot to do.’”
A Unique Opportunity
Chester enjoyed success at the Renault team in the driver Fernando Alonso's championship-winning seasons of the mid-2000s and was in command of technical development at the recently formed Mercedes electric racing team, but no other project has been quite like the task of introducing the quintessentially American Cadillac brand, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the owner, GM, into F1.
“Establishing an Formula One team from scratch, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” Chester remarks. “It's unparalleled. In an well-set team you don’t get the opportunity to alter organizational mindset.”
With each day that elapses minds are more focused on the approaching decisive point in the Australian GP and targets are being set realistically.
“One must presume that a brand-new squad entering the sport is likely to start at the back but simply getting on to the grid will be an achievement in itself,” Lowdon stated recently and while the CTO echoed this he believed the team had a reputation to build as well.
“The initial objective we intend to prove is that we deserve to be there,” he emphasizes. “In order that we arrive and we function efficiently. We want to show that this is a professional operation performing the right things on the track. Once we’ve shown that we are a legitimate team, then we aim to demonstrate improvement after that.”
Pilot Selection and Hiring Drive
In August they contracted Checo Pérez and Valtteri as their pilots for the 2026 season, a duo remarkable for their vast knowledge in operating at the leading positions in two of the sport’s biggest teams, the Red Bull team and Mercedes-AMG, and the Finnish driver reflected the attitude of determined optimism.
“Naturally, we have a realistic outlook,” he said. “We face a mountain of work to do, and it’s going to be almost certainly a tough opening, because it is F1. But we aren't joining to remain at the rear. In my view given this organization, with this team, these personnel, it's entirely possible we can't manage to progress rapidly up to the pace and achieve good results.”
To achieve that goal hiring has been in full swing, with employees now at more than 400 and planned to reach the objective of 600 rapidly. Complementing their current base at Silverstone, the team are in the process of completing an headquarters at Fishers, Indiana in Indy and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, where they are constructing the plant to build the new engine, scheduled for the 2029 season – in the meantime they will operate with power from Ferrari – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a sophisticated organization, different from the trend in F1 for more centralization, and has led to the fresh organizational mindset to which Nick Chester referred.
Space Mission Model
“We've drawn heavily from the NASA moon mission,” remarked the team principal just before the British GP in July. “We are pragmatic, we understand how tough it is. The deadlines, they’re super, super, super short. OK, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it can seem that way.”
So they have implemented, instead of the usual hierarchical system, a flat management structure similar to that of NASA's, where there were a range of specialist groups all tackling distinct elements of the program across a variety of locations.
“When you must follow a process where an issue arises and they raise it up to their team leader, that leader consults a supervisor at a different location, it travels back down, it’s super slow,” notes Chester. “Therefore we enable people to handle things directly. Eliminating hierarchical consent for everything is much smoother and more rapid.”
What Lies Ahead
The efficacy of this flexible approach will be tested in the pressure of racing next season and there is no little amount riding on this for the sport, too. Cadillac have recruited as their reserve driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
