Just over a full year ago at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were at last given the official approval as Formula One’s newest entry for 2026. Constructing the organization from scratch has involved a intense operating tempo that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo moon landing. As the sport converges on Las Vegas this race weekend, the team know the deadline is approaching.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the season finale of the campaign to be hosted in the US, with approximately a hundred days to go before they take to the track for the maiden outing in Australia at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a monumental task, they are cognizant there will never be sufficient time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, became part of the nascent operation in the spring of 2023 shortly after it was created, when the team were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its center since then and enjoys a amused expression when thinking about the experience.
“There might be a brief moment reflecting at what you’ve done and think: ‘Incredible, what an achievement what the team has created in a short three-year period,’” Chester states. “But then the very next instant you think: ‘Yeah, we still have a great deal to do.’”
A Unique Task
Nick Chester enjoyed success at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s title-winning campaigns of the mid-2000s and was in command of engineering strategy at the recently formed Mercedes electric racing team, but no previous experience has been quite like the challenge of launching the iconic American Cadillac brand, a works entry sponsored by the parent company, General Motors, into Formula One.
“Establishing an Formula One team from nothing, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” Chester remarks. “It is like nothing else. In an well-set team you won't have the chance to alter organizational mindset.”
With each day that goes by minds are sharper on the approaching moment of truth in Melbourne and targets are being set realistically.
“One must presume that any new team entering the sport is probably going to finish last but simply getting on to the grid will be an achievement in itself,” the team principal noted this year and while Nick Chester shared this view he felt the squad had a reputation to build as well.
“The initial objective we intend to prove is that we belong on the grid,” he emphasizes. “So we arrive and we operate well. We aim to demonstrate that we’re a proper team performing the correct procedures on the circuit. Once we’ve shown that our credentials are solid, then we aim to demonstrate progression after that.”
Driver Lineup and Recruitment Effort
In the summer they signed Checo Pérez and Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a tandem distinguished for their invaluable experience in competing at the front in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull and Mercedes-AMG, and Valtteri Bottas reflected the mood of combative optimism.
“Certainly, we have a realistic outlook,” Bottas stated. “We face a massive task to do, and it’s going to be most likely a challenging beginning, because this is Formula One. But our goal isn't to finish last. I am confident with this setup, with this team, these people, there’s no reason why we can't manage to advance swiftly up to the pace and enjoy some success.”
To realize that ambition hiring has been in overdrive, with personnel now reaching over 400 and scheduled to reach the goal of 600 rapidly. In addition to their present headquarters at the UK base, the team are in the process of completing an main base at Fishers in Indy and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, where they are building the facility to produce the 2029 engine, set for 2029 – until then they will run Ferrari power units – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a intricate structure, contrary to the direction in F1 for more centralization, and has led to the innovative team culture to which Chester alluded.
NASA Blueprint
“It's closely based on the Apollo program,” said Lowdon ahead of the British GP in the summer. “We’re realistic, we recognize how challenging it is. The deadlines, are incredibly tight. Alright, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have implemented, 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 tackling various components of the mission at a multiple sites.
“When you must follow a process where an issue arises and they report it to their team leader, that leader consults a leader at a different location, it is relayed back, it becomes inefficient,” explains Chester. “Therefore we enable people to take charge. Avoiding management approval for everything is so much cleaner and more rapid.”
Upcoming Challenges
The efficacy of this nimble methodology will be evaluated in the intensity of Grand Prix when the season begins and there is a significant degree riding on this for F1, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their reserve driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta
