Just over one year ago at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were at last given the go-ahead as Formula One’s most recent entry for 2026. Establishing the organization from scratch has entailed a hectic 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 understand time is getting tight.
The Countdown to Australia
At the final race of the campaign to be hosted in the United States, with just over three months to go before they hit the circuit for the first time in Melbourne at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a monumental endeavor, they are conscious there will not be sufficient time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, became part of the newly formed operation in early 2023 shortly after it was created, when the organization were without even an official entry. He has been at its heart ever since and enjoys a wry smile when considering the ride.
“There might be a brief moment looking back at what the team has achieved and think: ‘Incredible, isn’t this fantastic what the team has created in under three years,’” he says. “And then the next minute you realize: ‘Well, we still have a significant amount to do.’”
An Unprecedented Task
Chester enjoyed success at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s title-winning years of 2005 and 2006 and was in control of technical development at the new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but nothing has been quite like the mission of launching the iconic American Cadillac name, a factory team backed by the owner, General Motors, into F1.
“Creating an Formula One team from the ground up, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he says. “It is like nothing else. In an well-set team you rarely get the possibility to alter organizational mindset.”
With every day that passes minds are sharper on the approaching decisive point in Australia and targets are being managed.
“One must presume that any new team joining the grid is probably going to finish last but merely participating will be an accomplishment in itself,” Graeme Lowdon commented this year and while Chester echoed this he believed the organization had a reputation to build as well.
“The initial objective we aim to demonstrate is that we belong on the grid,” he says. “So we turn up and we function efficiently. We want to show that we’re a proper team executing the proper actions on the track. When we prove that our credentials are solid, then we want to show improvement subsequently.”
Pilot Selection and Hiring Push
In August they contracted Checo Pérez and Bottas as their drivers for the 2026 season, a tandem remarkable for their vast knowledge in operating at the leading positions in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes, and Valtteri Bottas reflected the attitude of combative optimism.
“Certainly, we’re realistic,” he commented. “There’s going to be a massive task to do, and it’s going to be probably a challenging beginning, because it's the top level of motorsport. But our goal isn't to finish last. I believe given this organization, with these individuals, these personnel, there is every reason that we shouldn’t be able to get relatively quickly up to the pace and enjoy some success.”
To that end hiring has been in full swing, with staff now at over 400 and planned to attain the goal of 600 members swiftly. Alongside their existing facility at Silverstone, the team are in the midst of finishing an HQ at Fishers, Indiana in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM plant in North Carolina, where they are building the center to produce the 2029 engine, planned for 2029 – for now they will use Ferrari power units – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a complex structure, at odds with the movement in F1 for more centralization, and has inspired the new cultural approach to which Chester referred.
NASA Inspiration
“It’s highly modelled on the NASA moon mission,” said Graeme Lowdon just before the British GP in July. “We’re realistic, we understand how challenging it is. The timelines, they’re super, super, super short. Well, it's not a space expedition, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have embraced, as opposed to the usual hierarchical system, a decentralized management similar to that of NASA's, where there were a variety of project teams all focusing on different aspects of the program at a multiple sites.
“When you must follow a protocol where an issue arises and they raise it up to their manager, that leader talks to a leader somewhere else, it travels back down, it’s super slow,” says Nick Chester. “We give authority to team members to really get on with it. Eliminating management approval for each action is far more efficient and more rapid.”
What Lies Ahead
The effectiveness of this flexible strategy will be evaluated in the pressure of racing next season and there is no little amount at stake for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have taken on as their development driver the young American Colton Herta
