Approximately one year ago at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately granted the official approval as Formula One’s newest entry for the 2026 season. Building the team from the ground up has entailed a frenetic work rate that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the NASA lunar mission. As the sport converges on the Vegas strip this weekend, Cadillac know the deadline is approaching.
The Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the last event of the season to be held in the America, with just over a hundred days to go before they hit the circuit for the maiden outing in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a sisyphean challenge, they are aware there will not be adequate time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, came aboard the nascent operation in the spring of 2023 not long after it was formed, when the organization were without even an official entry. He has been at its core since then and enjoys a knowing grin when thinking about the ride.
“You might get a brief moment thinking back at what you have accomplished and go: ‘Amazing, isn’t this fantastic what we have built in a short three-year period,’” Chester states. “Then the following moment you realize: ‘Yes, we’ve still got a significant amount to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Opportunity
Chester had success at Renault in the driver Fernando Alonso's victorious campaigns of the mid-2000s and was in command of technical development at the then-new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no previous experience has been quite like the mission of launching the quintessentially American Cadillac brand, a manufacturer-backed entry backed by the parent company, General Motors, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Building 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 established team you won't have the possibility to alter cultural approach.”
With each passing day that passes thoughts are more focused on the impending decisive point in Australia and goals are being managed.
“One must presume that any incoming team joining the grid is likely to start at the back but simply getting on to the grid will be an feat in itself,” Lowdon commented recently and while the CTO shared this view he believed the team had a statement to make as well.
“The first thing we aim to demonstrate is that we should be there,” Chester explains. “In order that we show up and we perform competently. We aim to demonstrate that we are a serious contender doing the right things on the circuit. After we prove that we are a legitimate team, then we will focus on improvement subsequently.”
Pilot Selection and Recruitment Drive
In late summer they contracted Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a duo distinguished for their invaluable experience in operating at the sharp end in two top-tier teams, Red Bull Racing and the Mercedes team, and Bottas echoed the mood of determined optimism.
“Of course, we are pragmatic,” Bottas stated. “We have a huge amount of work to do, and it will likely be most likely a tough opening, because it is F1. But we aren't joining to finish last. I believe with this structure, with this team, these people, there’s no reason why we can't manage to advance swiftly to the front and achieve good results.”
To realize that ambition hiring has been in overdrive, with personnel now at over 400 and intended to hit the goal of 600 quickly. Alongside their current base at the Silverstone circuit, the team are in the midst of finishing an main base at Fishers in Indy and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are developing the facility to build the 2029 engine, scheduled for 2029 – until then they will run Ferrari engines – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a sophisticated structure, contrary to the direction in F1 for increased consolidation, and has led to the innovative team culture to which Nick Chester referred to.
Space Mission Inspiration
“We've drawn heavily from the NASA moon mission,” remarked Lowdon shortly before the Silverstone race in July. “We’re realistic, we recognize how challenging it is. The schedules, they’re super, super, super short. Well, it's not a space expedition, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have adopted, as opposed to the conventional chain of command, a flat management structure similar to that of Nasa’s, where there were a assortment of specialist groups all focusing on distinct elements of the project across a different facilities.
“If you have to go through a protocol where a challenge emerges and they report it to their manager, that manager talks to a supervisor in another department, it travels back down, the process is very slow,” notes Nick Chester. “We give authority to people to handle things directly. Avoiding management approval for everything is so much cleaner and more rapid.”
The Future
The success of this flexible strategy will be tested in the pressure of racing next season and there is a considerable amount at stake for F1, too. Cadillac have recruited as their development driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
