Just over twelve months in the past at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were at last given the green light as Formula One’s most recent participant for the 2026 season. Constructing the squad from nothing has involved a intense work rate that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo moon landing. As Formula One converges on Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac know the clock is ticking.
The Race Against Time to Australia
At the last event of the campaign to be hosted in the United States, with approximately a hundred days to go before they make their debut for the inaugural time in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a monumental task, they are conscious there will not be enough hours in the day.
The CTO, Nick Chester, came aboard the nascent operation in the spring of 2023 shortly after it was established, when the team were without even an approved entry. He has been at its center from that point and has a knowing grin when reflecting on the experience.
“There might be a short period reflecting at what the team has achieved and go: ‘Amazing, what an achievement what the team has created in less than three years,’” he says. “But then the following moment you realize: ‘Well, there is still quite a lot to do.’”
A Unique Task
The CTO enjoyed success at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s championship-winning seasons of 2005/2006 and was in control of engineering strategy at the new Mercedes electric racing team, but no previous experience has been quite like the mission of introducing the iconic American Cadillac brand, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the owner, General Motors Corporation, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Building an Formula One team from scratch, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he observes. “It is like nothing else. In an established team you don’t get the possibility to change cultural approach.”
With each passing day that elapses thoughts are more focused on the impending decisive point in the Australian GP and expectations are being handled.
“One must presume that any incoming team joining the grid is probably going to finish last but just making it to the starting line will be an achievement in itself,” the team principal commented recently and while Chester shared this view he thought the squad had a statement to make as well.
“The first thing we intend to prove is that we deserve to be there,” Chester explains. “So we show up and we perform competently. We seek to prove that this is a professional operation doing the proper actions on the race track. When we’ve shown that we are a legitimate team, then we want to show progression after that.”
Driver Lineup and Team Building Drive
In the summer they contracted Sergio Pérez and Valtteri as their racers for the 2026 season, a pair remarkable for their invaluable experience in competing at the front in two top-tier teams, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes, and the Finnish driver reflected the sentiment of fighting spirit.
“Of course, we are pragmatic,” he commented. “We face a mountain of work to do, and it will likely be probably a tough opening, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we’re not there to remain at the rear. I believe with this setup, with these individuals, this staff, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to advance swiftly to a competitive level and taste victory.”
To achieve that goal staff acquisition has been in overdrive, with staff now reaching over 400 and intended to attain the target of six hundred swiftly. In addition to their current base at the UK base, the team are in the midst of building an main base at Fishers in Indy and there is the GM works in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are developing the facility to build the new engine, planned for 2029 – in the meantime they will use power from Ferrari – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a complex organization, different from the trend in Formula One for greater centralisation, and has inspired the new cultural approach to which Nick Chester referred to.
NASA Inspiration
“It's closely based on the Apollo project,” remarked the team principal ahead of the British GP in mid-season. “We’re realistic, we recognize how challenging it is. The timelines, are incredibly tight. OK, it's not a space expedition, but it can seem that way.”
So they have implemented, instead of the usual hierarchical system, a decentralized management akin to that of NASA's, where there were a range of project teams all focusing on distinct elements of the program in a variety of locations.
“In a system where you follow a protocol where an issue arises and they raise it up to their manager, that manager consults a leader at a different location, it is relayed back, it’s super slow,” notes Chester. “We give authority to staff to handle things directly. Moving away from managerial sign-off for all decisions is so much cleaner and faster.”
Upcoming Challenges
The efficacy of this flexible approach will be proven in the pressure of racing when the season begins and there is no little amount at stake for F1, too. Cadillac have recruited as their development driver the emerging American Colton Herta
