Approximately a full year previously at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally given the official approval as Formula One’s newest participant for the 2026 season. Establishing the team from scratch has entailed a hectic operating tempo that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo program. As F1 arrives on Vegas this weekend, the team are aware the deadline is approaching.
The Countdown to Australia
At the final race of the season to be held in the America, with around 100 days to go before they make their debut for the maiden outing in Melbourne at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a sisyphean endeavor, they are conscious there will never be adequate time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, joined the newly formed team 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 amused expression when considering the journey.
“You might get a short period thinking back at what you have accomplished and think: ‘Amazing, what an achievement what the team has created in under three years,’” Chester states. “But then the following moment you consider: ‘Yes, there is still quite a lot to do.’”
A Unique Challenge
Chester enjoyed success at the Renault team in the driver Fernando Alonso's championship-winning seasons of 2005 and 2006 and was in charge of technical direction at the new Mercedes electric racing team, but no other project has truly matched the challenge of bringing the iconic American Cadillac brand, a works entry supported by the parent company, General Motors Corporation, into Formula One.
“Establishing an Formula One team from the ground up, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he observes. “There's nothing comparable. In an existing team you don’t get the possibility to change organizational mindset.”
With each day that passes thoughts are more focused on the looming moment of truth in Melbourne and goals are being handled.
“One must presume 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 accomplishment in itself,” Lowdon commented this year and while Nick Chester agreed with this sentiment he felt the squad had a point to prove as well.
“The initial objective we aim to demonstrate is that we should be there,” Chester explains. “So we turn up and we perform competently. We want to show that we’re a proper team performing the correct procedures on the circuit. After we prove that we are a legitimate team, then we will focus on improvement after that.”
Racing Talent and Team Building Effort
In August they contracted Sergio Pérez and Valtteri as their racers for 2026, a tandem distinguished for their invaluable experience in operating at the leading positions in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull and Mercedes, and Bottas reflected the sentiment of determined optimism.
“Of course, we have a realistic outlook,” he commented. “We face a mountain of work to do, and it will likely be probably a challenging beginning, because this is Formula One. But we’re not there to finish last. In my view with this setup, with this team, these people, there’s no reason why we can't manage to get relatively quickly up to the pace and enjoy some success.”
To realize that ambition recruitment has been in overdrive, with personnel now reaching over 400 and planned to hit the objective of 600 rapidly. Alongside their existing facility at Silverstone, the squad are in the midst of completing an headquarters at Fishers in Indy and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are developing the center to produce the 2029 engine, scheduled for 2029 – in the meantime they will run Ferrari engines – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Germany. It is a intricate organisation, at odds with the trend in F1 for increased consolidation, and has inspired the new cultural approach to which Nick Chester alluded.
Space Mission Model
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo project,” remarked the team principal shortly before the Silverstone race in July. “We’re realistic, we understand how difficult it is. The schedules, they’re super, super, super short. Well, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have implemented, as opposed to the conventional chain of command, a flat management structure akin to that of the space agency's, where there were a assortment of project teams all focusing on distinct elements of the project across 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 in another department, it goes back down the chain, it’s super slow,” says the CTO. “So we empower team members to take charge. Avoiding managerial sign-off for all decisions is so much cleaner and quicker.”
The Future
The effectiveness of this agile approach will be tested in the pressure of racing when the season begins and there is a significant degree riding on this for Formula One, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their test driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta
