A little more than one year in the past at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally given the official approval as Formula One’s most recent entrant for 2026. Establishing the squad from the ground up has involved a hectic work rate that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the NASA lunar mission. As the sport arrives on the Vegas strip this weekend, the team understand the clock is ticking.
The Race Against Time to Australia
At the final race of the championship to be held in the America, with approximately three months to go before they hit the circuit for the first time in Melbourne at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a monumental task, they are cognizant there will not be sufficient time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, became part of the embryonic team in March 2023 soon after it was established, when the squad were without even an official entry. He has been at its center since then and gets a knowing grin when reflecting on the ride.
“There might be a short period thinking back at what you have accomplished and go: ‘Incredible, what an achievement what the team has created in a short three-year period,’” he notes. “Then the next minute you consider: ‘Yeah, we’ve still got a great deal to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Task
The CTO enjoyed success at the Renault team in the driver Fernando Alonso's championship-winning years of 2005 and 2006 and was in control of engineering strategy at the new Mercedes electric racing team, but no other project has truly matched the task of bringing the iconic American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry backed by the owner, General Motors, into Formula One.
“Establishing an F1 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 chance to change team culture.”
With each day that passes focus are sharper on the looming decisive point in the Australian GP and expectations are being managed.
“It's reasonable to expect that any new team 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 earlier this year and while the CTO echoed this he believed the organization had a reputation to build as well.
“The first thing we aim to demonstrate is that we deserve to be there,” Chester explains. “In order that we turn up and we function efficiently. We aim to demonstrate that this is a professional operation doing the correct procedures on the circuit. After we have demonstrated that we’re really credible, then we aim to demonstrate progression after that.”
Driver Lineup and Hiring Effort
In the summer they recruited Sergio Perez and Valtteri as their drivers for the 2026 season, a pair notable for their priceless expertise in operating at the leading positions in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull and the Mercedes team, and Bottas echoed the sentiment of fighting spirit.
“Of course, we are pragmatic,” he commented. “We have a massive task to do, and we expect probably a difficult start, because this is Formula One. But our goal isn't to finish last. I am confident given this organization, with this group, these people, there’s no reason why we can't manage to advance swiftly to a competitive level and taste victory.”
To achieve that goal recruitment has been in full swing, with employees now up to in excess of 400 and scheduled to attain the target of 600 members quickly. In addition to their current base at the Silverstone circuit, the organization are in the process of finishing an headquarters at Fishers, Indiana in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are constructing the center to manufacture the power unit, set for the 2029 season – for now they will use Ferrari engines – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Germany. It is a sophisticated structure, contrary to the movement in the sport for more centralization, and has led to the innovative team culture to which Nick Chester referred.
NASA Model
“It's closely based on the NASA moon mission,” remarked Graeme Lowdon shortly before the Silverstone race in mid-season. “We are pragmatic, we recognize how challenging it is. The schedules, they’re super, super, super short. Alright, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have embraced, as opposed to the traditional management structure, a non-hierarchical approach akin to that of Nasa’s, where there were a range of project teams all tackling various components of the mission at a multiple sites.
“In a system where you follow a protocol where someone has a problem and they escalate it to their team leader, that manager consults a supervisor in another department, it goes back down the chain, the process is very slow,” notes Nick Chester. “Therefore we enable team members to take charge. Eliminating management approval for all decisions is much smoother and more rapid.”
Upcoming Challenges
The efficacy of this agile approach will be proven 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 young American Colton Herta