Just over one year previously at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last awarded the green light as Formula One’s most recent entrant for 2026. Establishing the team from scratch has required a hectic operating tempo that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the NASA lunar mission. As F1 converges on Las Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac understand time is getting tight.
The Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the final race of the season to be hosted in the America, with around 100 days to go before they take to the track for the inaugural time in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a never-ending task, they are aware there will never be adequate time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, became part of the newly formed project in early 2023 soon after it was established, when the squad were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its center since then and gets a knowing grin when reflecting on the ride.
“There might be a short period reflecting at what the team has achieved and think: ‘Amazing, how impressive what we have built in a short three-year period,’” Chester states. “And then the next minute you think: ‘Yeah, we’ve still got a great deal to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Opportunity
Nick Chester achieved victories at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s victorious years of 2005 and 2006 and was in charge of technical direction at the recently formed Mercedes electric racing team, but no other project has been quite like the challenge of launching the iconic American Cadillac marque, a works entry backed by the parent company, General Motors, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Creating an F1 team from the ground up, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he observes. “It's unparalleled. In an established team you don’t get the possibility to change team culture.”
With each day that passes minds are more focused on the approaching critical moment in the Australian GP and expectations are being managed.
“It's reasonable to expect that any new team joining the grid is going to be last but just making it to the starting line will be an feat in itself,” the team principal noted earlier this year and while the CTO agreed with this sentiment he believed the organization had a reputation to build as well.
“The initial objective we intend to prove is that we should be there,” Chester explains. “So that we turn up and we function efficiently. We seek to prove that we are a serious contender executing the right things on the track. Once we prove that we are a legitimate team, then we will focus on forward movement subsequently.”
Pilot Selection and Recruitment Push
In late summer they recruited Sergio Perez and Valtteri as their pilots for the 2026 season, a duo remarkable for their vast knowledge in operating at the leading positions in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull and the Mercedes team, and Valtteri Bottas echoed the attitude of fighting spirit.
“Of course, we are pragmatic,” he said. “We face a massive task to do, and we expect most likely a tough opening, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we aren't joining to remain at the rear. I am confident given this organization, with this team, these personnel, there is every reason that we can't manage to progress rapidly up to the pace and enjoy some success.”
To realize that ambition staff acquisition has been in overdrive, with staff now at over 400 and planned to attain the target of six hundred swiftly. Complementing their present headquarters at the Silverstone circuit, the squad are in the phase of building an HQ at the Fishers location in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are constructing the center to produce the new engine, set for the 2029 season – until then they will operate with Ferrari engines – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a intricate organization, contrary to the direction in F1 for greater centralisation, and has prompted the fresh organizational mindset to which the CTO referred.
NASA Model
“It's closely based on the NASA moon mission,” said the team principal ahead of the Silverstone race in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we understand how difficult it is. The timelines, they’re super, super, super short. OK, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have implemented, as opposed to the traditional management structure, a flat management structure similar to that of Nasa’s, where there were a variety of project teams all focusing on distinct elements of the program at a variety of locations.
“If you have to go through a procedure where a challenge emerges and they raise it up to their supervisor, that leader consults a leader in another department, it is relayed back, it becomes inefficient,” says Nick Chester. “We give authority to team members to take charge. Moving away from managerial sign-off for each action is much smoother and more rapid.”
What Lies Ahead
The effectiveness of this agile approach will be proven in the heat of competition in 2026 and there is a significant degree riding on this for F1, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their reserve driver the young American Colton Herta
