A little more than a full year in the past at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally granted the green light as the world of Formula One's most recent participant for the 2026 season. Constructing the squad from nothing has entailed a frenetic work rate that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo moon landing. As the sport converges on the Vegas strip this race weekend, the team are aware the deadline is approaching.
The Countdown to Australia
At the last event of the campaign to be hosted in the US, with approximately three months to go before they make their debut for the maiden outing in Australia at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a monumental task, they are cognizant there will never be sufficient time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, came aboard the embryonic team in March 2023 not long after it was created, when the squad were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its core from that point and has a amused expression when reflecting on the journey.
“There might be a brief moment reflecting at what the team has achieved and go: ‘Wow, isn’t this fantastic what the team has created in a short three-year period,’” he notes. “But then the very next instant you consider: ‘Well, we’ve still got a significant amount to do.’”
An Unprecedented Opportunity
The CTO enjoyed success at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s championship-winning campaigns of 2005 and 2006 and was in charge of technical development at the new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but nothing has been quite like the challenge of introducing the all-American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry sponsored by the owner, GM, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Building an Formula One team from the ground up, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” Chester remarks. “It is like nothing else. In an established team you won't have the possibility to alter cultural approach.”
With each day that passes thoughts are sharper on the approaching decisive point in Australia and targets are being managed.
“You have to assume that any new team entering the sport is likely to start at the back but merely participating will be an achievement in itself,” the team principal stated this year and while Nick Chester echoed this he felt the organization had a point to prove as well.
“The initial objective we want to show is that we deserve to be there,” he says. “In order that we show up and we perform competently. We want to show that this is a professional operation doing the right things on the race track. After we have demonstrated that we are a legitimate team, then we will focus on improvement from there on.”
Pilot Selection and Hiring Effort
In August they recruited Sergio Perez and Valtteri as their drivers for 2026, a duo distinguished for their invaluable experience in performing at the sharp end in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull and Mercedes, and Valtteri Bottas reflected the attitude of determined optimism.
“Naturally, we have a realistic outlook,” he said. “We face a mountain of work to do, and it will likely be almost certainly a tough opening, because it is F1. But our goal isn't to finish last. In my view with this setup, with this team, this staff, there is every reason that we can't manage to advance swiftly to a competitive level and achieve good results.”
To achieve that goal recruitment has been in full swing, with employees now at more than 400 and intended to attain the target of 600 swiftly. Alongside their existing facility at the UK base, the squad are in the process of finishing an main base at Fishers, Indiana in the Indianapolis area and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, where they are developing the plant to produce the new engine, planned for 2029 – in the meantime they will operate with Ferrari power units – and the aerodynamic facility in Germany. It is a complex structure, contrary to the movement in Formula One for greater centralisation, and has led to the innovative team culture to which Chester alluded.
Apollo Inspiration
“It's closely based on the NASA moon mission,” said Graeme Lowdon ahead of the Silverstone race in mid-season. “We have a clear-eyed view, we understand how difficult it is. The deadlines, are incredibly tight. OK, it's not a space expedition, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have adopted, as opposed to the traditional management structure, a flat management structure akin to that of NASA's, where there were a assortment of project teams all focusing on distinct elements of the project across a variety of locations.
“In a system where you follow a process where a challenge emerges and they escalate it to their manager, that supervisor consults a manager at a different location, it goes back down the chain, it becomes inefficient,” notes Nick Chester. “Therefore we enable people to handle things directly. Eliminating hierarchical consent for each action is so much cleaner and faster.”
The Future
The efficacy of this nimble methodology will be proven in the intensity of Grand Prix when the season begins and there is a significant degree at stake for Formula One, too. Cadillac have taken on as their test driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta
