Approximately twelve months ago at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were at last awarded the green light as Formula One’s most recent participant for the 2026 season. Constructing the squad from nothing has involved a hectic work rate that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo moon landing. As Formula One arrives on Vegas this weekend, the team know the deadline is approaching.
The Countdown to Australia
At the last event of the season to be held in the US, with approximately 100 days to go before they make their debut for the first time in Australia at the 2026 opener, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a never-ending endeavor, they are aware there will not be enough hours in the day.
The technical director, Nick Chester, came aboard the nascent project in the spring of 2023 not long after it was created, when the squad were without even an approved entry. He has been at its heart ever since and has a wry smile when reflecting on the ride.
“You can have five minutes looking back at what you’ve done and go: ‘Incredible, how impressive what we’ve done in a short three-year period,’” Chester states. “Then the following moment you realize: ‘Yeah, we still have a great deal to do.’”
A Unique Opportunity
Nick Chester had success at the Renault team in Alonso's championship-winning seasons of the mid-2000s and was in control of technical direction at the recently formed Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no previous experience has quite compared with the mission of introducing the iconic American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry sponsored by the corporate entity, General Motors Corporation, 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 observes. “It is like nothing else. In an existing team you won't have the possibility to change organizational mindset.”
With each passing day that goes by focus are more focused on the looming critical moment in Melbourne and expectations are being managed.
“You have to assume that any new team coming in is probably going to finish last but simply getting on to the grid will be an feat in itself,” the team principal commented this year and while Chester agreed with this sentiment he felt the squad had a statement to make as well.
“The first thing we intend to prove is that we should be there,” he emphasizes. “So that we show up and we operate well. We aim to demonstrate that we’re a proper team doing the right things on the track. When we prove that our credentials are solid, then we aim to demonstrate improvement subsequently.”
Driver Lineup and Team Building Drive
In August they contracted Sergio Perez and Valtteri as their drivers for 2026, a pair remarkable for their vast knowledge in competing at the front in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull and Mercedes, and the Finnish driver reflected the attitude of determined optimism.
“Of course, we’re realistic,” he commented. “We have a mountain of work to do, and it’s going to be most likely a difficult start, because it's the top level of motorsport. But our goal isn't to stay at the back. In my view given this organization, with these individuals, these personnel, there is every reason that we can't manage to get relatively quickly to the front and enjoy some success.”
To achieve that goal hiring has been in top gear, with employees now up to in excess of 400 and scheduled to attain the objective of 600 members swiftly. Alongside their present headquarters at the Silverstone circuit, the organization are in the midst of completing an main base at Fishers in Indianapolis and there is the GM works in North Carolina, where they are developing the facility to produce the 2029 engine, planned for the 2029 season – until then they will use power from Ferrari – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a complex organization, contrary to the trend in Formula One for greater centralisation, and has inspired the fresh organizational mindset to which Chester alluded.
NASA Model
“It’s highly modelled on the NASA moon mission,” stated Graeme Lowdon ahead of the Silverstone race in the summer. “We’re realistic, we recognize how difficult it is. The timelines, are extremely compressed. OK, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have implemented, rather than the traditional management structure, a flat management structure akin to that of NASA's, where there were a variety of project teams all tackling distinct elements of the mission at a variety of locations.
“In a system where you follow a protocol where someone has a problem and they escalate it to their team leader, that manager talks to a manager somewhere else, it travels back down, it’s super slow,” says Nick Chester. “So we empower staff to really get on with it. Avoiding hierarchical consent for all decisions is so much cleaner and more rapid.”
Upcoming Challenges
The efficacy of this nimble strategy will be tested in the pressure of racing in 2026 and there is a considerable amount riding on this for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their reserve driver the emerging American Colton Herta
