Just over twelve months in the past at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were at last given the go-ahead as the world of Formula One's most recent participant for 2026. Building the squad from nothing has involved a frenetic work rate that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the NASA lunar mission. As the sport converges on Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac are aware the deadline is approaching.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the final race of the season to be staged in the America, with around three months to go before they make their debut for the first time in Australia at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a never-ending task, they are conscious there will not be sufficient time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, became part of the nascent operation in the spring of 2023 not long after it was formed, when the organization were without even an approved entry. He has been at its core since then and gets a amused expression when reflecting on the experience.
“You can have a brief moment reflecting at what you have accomplished and say: ‘Wow, isn’t this fantastic what we have built in a short three-year period,’” he says. “And then the very next instant you realize: ‘Yes, there is still a great deal to do.’”
A Unique Opportunity
Chester had success at the Renault team in Alonso's championship-winning campaigns of 2005/2006 and was in command of technical direction at the recently formed Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no other project has been quite like the challenge of launching the all-American Cadillac marque, a factory team backed by the corporate entity, GM, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Creating an F1 team from scratch, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he observes. “It's unparalleled. In an established team you don’t get the chance to transform organizational mindset.”
With each day that elapses thoughts are sharper on the approaching moment of truth in Australia and goals are being handled.
“You have to assume that a brand-new squad coming in is likely to start at the back but just making it to the starting line will be an feat in itself,” Graeme Lowdon noted recently and while Chester agreed with this sentiment he thought the organization had a point to prove as well.
“The first thing we want to show is that we belong on the grid,” Chester explains. “So that we turn up and we perform competently. We want to show that we are a serious contender doing the proper actions on the track. When we’ve shown that our credentials are solid, then we want to show progression from there on.”
Racing Talent and Team Building Effort
In late summer they recruited Sergio Perez and Bottas as their drivers for the 2026 season, a tandem remarkable for their priceless expertise in competing at the front in two top-tier teams, the Red Bull team and Mercedes, and Valtteri Bottas reflected the sentiment of fighting spirit.
“Certainly, we’re realistic,” he said. “We have a huge amount of work to do, and it will likely be almost certainly a tough opening, because it's the top level of motorsport. But our goal isn't to finish last. In my view given this organization, with this team, these personnel, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to get relatively quickly to the front and taste victory.”
To that end recruitment has been in full swing, with employees now at in excess of 400 and intended to attain the goal of 600 swiftly. In addition to their existing facility at the Silverstone circuit, the squad are in the midst of building an main base at the Fishers location in Indianapolis and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are developing the center to manufacture the 2029 engine, scheduled for 2029 – until then they will use Ferrari engines – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a complex organisation, contrary to the direction in F1 for increased consolidation, and has led to the fresh organizational mindset to which Nick Chester alluded.
Space Mission Blueprint
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo project,” said the team principal just before the British GP in July. “We’re realistic, we recognize how tough it is. The deadlines, are incredibly tight. Well, it's not a space expedition, but it can seem that way.”
So they have embraced, as opposed to the traditional management structure, a flat management structure akin to that of NASA's, where there were a range of Apollo teams all working on various components of the program at a different facilities.
“When you must follow a procedure where an issue arises and they raise it up to their supervisor, that manager communicates with a leader somewhere else, it travels back down, it becomes inefficient,” explains Nick Chester. “Therefore we enable team members to really get on with it. Eliminating management approval for everything is much smoother and more rapid.”
Upcoming Challenges
The effectiveness of this flexible strategy will be tested in the heat of competition in 2026 and there is a significant degree on the line for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have taken on as their reserve driver the young American Colton Herta
