Just over twelve months in the past at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally awarded the green light as Formula One’s latest entry for 2026. Establishing the team from scratch has required a hectic operating tempo that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the NASA lunar mission. As Formula One converges on the Vegas strip this weekend, the team understand the deadline is approaching.
The Race Against Time to Australia
At the final race of the championship to be hosted in the United States, with around 100 days to go before they hit the circuit for the maiden outing in Melbourne at the 2026 opener, the Cadillac F1 project have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a sisyphean endeavor, they are conscious there will not be adequate time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, became part of the embryonic team in the spring of 2023 soon after it was formed, when the organization were without even an approved entry. He has been at its center from that point and gets a wry smile when considering the ride.
“You might get a brief moment thinking back at what the team has achieved and say: ‘Incredible, isn’t this fantastic what the team has created in less than three years,’” he says. “Then the next minute you consider: ‘Yes, there is still a significant amount to do.’”
A Unique Challenge
The CTO enjoyed success at the Renault team in the driver Fernando Alonso's victorious seasons of 2005 and 2006 and was in charge of technical development at the new Mercedes electric racing team, but no other project has quite compared with the challenge of bringing the all-American Cadillac brand, a manufacturer-backed entry backed by the corporate entity, GM, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Building an grand prix team from scratch, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he says. “It is like nothing else. In an established team you won't have the possibility to transform team culture.”
With each day that passes minds are sharper on the impending moment of truth in Melbourne and goals are being managed.
“One must presume that any incoming team coming in is likely to start at the back but merely participating will be an feat in itself,” Lowdon noted earlier this year and while Chester agreed with this sentiment he believed the organization had a statement to make as well.
“Our primary goal we aim to demonstrate is that we deserve to be there,” he emphasizes. “So that we turn up and we function efficiently. We aim to demonstrate that this is a professional operation doing the right things on the track. After we’ve shown that we’re really credible, then we aim to demonstrate improvement from there on.”
Racing Talent and Recruitment Push
In the summer they contracted Sergio Perez and Valtteri as their racers for the 2026 season, a tandem remarkable for their vast knowledge in performing at the front in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes-AMG, and the Finnish driver reflected the sentiment of fighting spirit.
“Of course, we are pragmatic,” Bottas stated. “There’s going to be a massive task to do, and it will likely be most likely a difficult start, because it's the top level of motorsport. But our goal isn't to remain at the rear. I believe with this structure, with this group, these personnel, there is every reason that we can't manage to advance swiftly to the front and taste victory.”
To that end recruitment has been in full swing, with staff now reaching more than 400 and scheduled to hit the objective of 600 members rapidly. Alongside their present headquarters at the UK base, the squad are in the phase of building an HQ at Fishers, Indiana in Indy and there is the GM works in North Carolina, where they are constructing the facility to build the 2029 engine, planned for 2029 – for now they will use Ferrari power units – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a complex organization, at odds with the trend in the sport for more centralization, and has led to the fresh organizational mindset to which Chester referred.
Apollo Inspiration
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo program,” said Graeme Lowdon ahead of the British Grand Prix in July. “We’re realistic, we know how challenging it is. The schedules, are extremely compressed. OK, it's not a space expedition, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have adopted, as opposed to the usual hierarchical system, a decentralized management comparable to that of Nasa’s, where there were a variety of specialist groups all focusing on different aspects of the project at a different facilities.
“In a system where you follow a protocol where someone has a problem and they escalate it to their supervisor, that manager talks to a leader somewhere else, it is relayed back, the process is very slow,” notes Nick Chester. “So we empower team members to handle things directly. Moving away from managerial sign-off for each action is far more efficient and faster.”
Upcoming Challenges
The effectiveness of this flexible methodology will be evaluated in the pressure of racing when the season begins and there is a significant degree riding on this for Formula One, too. Cadillac have signed as their test driver the young American Colton Herta
