A little more than a full year in the past at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally granted the go-ahead as the world of Formula One's newest participant for 2026. Constructing the squad from nothing has involved a frenetic pace of work that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the NASA lunar mission. As Formula One arrives on Vegas this weekend, Cadillac are aware the clock is ticking.
The Countdown to Australia
At the season finale of the campaign to be staged in the United States, with around 100 days to go before they make their debut for the first time in Australia at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a never-ending challenge, they are cognizant there will never be enough hours in the day.
The CTO, Nick Chester, joined the embryonic project in the spring of 2023 shortly after it was formed, when the team were without even an approved entry. He has been at its core ever since and enjoys a amused expression when considering the ride.
“You can have a brief moment reflecting at what you’ve done and say: ‘Incredible, what an achievement what we have built in a short three-year period,’” he says. “Then the next minute you think: ‘Well, we’ve still got a great deal to do.’”
A Unique Opportunity
Nick Chester achieved victories at the Renault team in Alonso's victorious campaigns of 2005/2006 and was in control of engineering strategy at the then-new Mercedes Formula E team, but no previous experience has truly matched the challenge of introducing the all-American Cadillac marque, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the corporate entity, General Motors, into Formula One.
“Establishing an Formula One team from the ground up, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he says. “It's unparalleled. In an established team you rarely get the possibility to alter organizational mindset.”
With each passing day that elapses focus are sharper on the looming moment of truth in Melbourne and targets are being handled.
“You have to assume that any incoming team coming in is likely to start at the back but merely participating will be an achievement in itself,” the team principal stated this year and while the CTO agreed with this sentiment he believed the team had a point to prove as well.
“The first thing we aim to demonstrate is that we deserve to be there,” he emphasizes. “In order that we show up and we operate well. We aim to demonstrate that we’re a proper team executing the correct procedures on the track. When we have demonstrated that we are a legitimate team, then we will focus on improvement subsequently.”
Pilot Selection and Hiring Push
In the summer they contracted Checo Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their racers for the 2026 season, a tandem remarkable for their priceless expertise in operating at the front in two of the sport’s biggest teams, the Red Bull team and Mercedes-AMG, and Valtteri Bottas expressed the mood of determined optimism.
“Naturally, we are pragmatic,” he said. “We face a huge amount of work to do, and it’s going to be most likely a challenging beginning, because it is F1. But we aren't joining to remain at the rear. In my view given this organization, with this team, this staff, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to advance swiftly to the front and taste victory.”
To realize that ambition recruitment has been in overdrive, with employees now at more than 400 and scheduled to reach the objective of 600 rapidly. Alongside their current base at the UK base, the squad are in the process of finishing an main base at Fishers in Indy and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are constructing the plant to produce the new engine, set for 2029 – until then they will run Ferrari engines – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Germany. It is a sophisticated organization, contrary to the trend in the sport for increased consolidation, and has prompted the fresh organizational mindset to which the CTO alluded.
Space Mission Blueprint
“It’s highly modelled on the NASA moon mission,” remarked Lowdon shortly before the British GP in mid-season. “We’re realistic, we understand how difficult it is. The timelines, they’re super, super, super short. OK, it's not a space expedition, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have adopted, as opposed to the usual hierarchical system, a non-hierarchical approach similar to that of Nasa’s, where there were a range of Apollo teams all working on distinct elements of the project in a variety of locations.
“When you must follow a procedure where an issue arises and they raise it up to their supervisor, that manager consults a manager in another department, it travels back down, it’s super slow,” says the CTO. “Therefore we enable team members to take charge. Moving away from management approval for each action is far more efficient and faster.”
What Lies Ahead
The success of this agile strategy will be proven in the pressure of racing next season and there is no little amount riding on this for the sport, too. Cadillac have signed as their development driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta
