Just over twelve months previously at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were at last given the green light as F1's newest entry for 2026. Constructing the team from nothing has required a intense work rate that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo program. As Formula One arrives on Vegas this weekend, the team understand the deadline is approaching.
The Countdown to Australia
At the final race of the championship to be hosted in the United States, with approximately three months to go before they hit the circuit for the first time in Australia at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a monumental task, they are cognizant there will never be sufficient time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, became part of the nascent team in March 2023 not long after it was established, when the squad were without even an official entry. He has been at its core since then and gets a knowing grin when thinking about the ride.
“You might get five minutes looking back at what you have accomplished and go: ‘Incredible, how impressive what we’ve done in under three years,’” he notes. “But then the following moment you think: ‘Yes, there is still a great deal to do.’”
A Unique Opportunity
Nick Chester had success at the Renault team in the driver Fernando Alonso's title-winning campaigns of the mid-2000s and was in control of technical direction at the recently formed Mercedes electric racing team, but nothing has been quite like the challenge of introducing the all-American Cadillac marque, a works entry supported by the parent company, GM, into Formula One.
“Creating an grand prix team from nothing, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he observes. “It is like nothing else. In an established team you rarely get the possibility to change organizational mindset.”
With each passing day that elapses minds are sharper on the looming decisive point in Australia and targets are being handled.
“One must presume that any incoming team joining the grid is going to be last but merely participating will be an feat in itself,” Graeme Lowdon noted earlier this year and while Chester agreed with this sentiment he thought the team had a point to prove as well.
“Our primary goal we want to show is that we deserve to be there,” he says. “So that we turn up and we operate well. We seek to prove that we are a serious contender performing the right things on the circuit. When we have demonstrated that we’re really credible, then we aim to demonstrate improvement from there on.”
Racing Talent and Hiring Effort
In late summer they recruited Sergio Perez and Bottas as their racers for the 2026 season, a duo distinguished for their vast knowledge in operating at the leading positions in two of the sport’s biggest teams, the Red Bull team and the Mercedes team, and the Finnish driver reflected the attitude of fighting spirit.
“Certainly, we have a realistic outlook,” he commented. “We face a huge amount of work to do, and it’s going to be most likely a challenging beginning, because this is Formula One. But we aren't joining to stay at the back. I believe with this setup, with these individuals, these people, it's entirely possible we can't manage to progress rapidly up to the pace and taste victory.”
To achieve that goal recruitment has been in full swing, with staff now up to more than 400 and intended to hit the target of 600 members quickly. In addition to their current base at the Silverstone circuit, the team are in the process of finishing an HQ at Fishers in Indy and there is the GM plant in North Carolina, where they are building the facility to manufacture the 2029 engine, scheduled for 2029 – for now they will operate with Ferrari power units – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Germany. It is a complex organization, contrary to the direction in F1 for more centralization, and has inspired the fresh organizational mindset to which Chester referred to.
NASA Model
“It's closely based on the NASA moon mission,” said Graeme Lowdon just before the British Grand Prix in mid-season. “We are pragmatic, we know how challenging it is. The schedules, are extremely compressed. OK, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it can seem that way.”
So they have embraced, instead of the usual hierarchical system, a non-hierarchical approach similar to that of Nasa’s, where there were a assortment of specialist groups all working on different aspects of the mission in a variety of locations.
“If you have to go through a protocol where a challenge emerges and they report it to their supervisor, that leader communicates with a leader somewhere else, it goes back down the chain, the process is very slow,” notes Chester. “We give authority to people to take charge. Eliminating managerial sign-off for each action is far more efficient and faster.”
What Lies Ahead
The efficacy of this agile strategy will be proven in the heat of competition in 2026 and there is a considerable amount at stake for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have taken on as their development driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
