Just over twelve months ago at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were at last awarded the official approval as F1's newest entry for the 2026 season. Establishing the team from nothing has entailed a frenetic operating tempo that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo moon landing. As Formula One converges on the Vegas strip this race weekend, the team understand the deadline is approaching.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the season finale of the campaign to be hosted in the America, with around a hundred days to go before they make their debut for the first time in Melbourne at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a monumental endeavor, they are cognizant there will not be adequate time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, became part of the embryonic team in March 2023 soon after it was formed, when the team were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its heart from that point and has a amused expression when reflecting on the ride.
“You might get five minutes looking back at what you’ve done and go: ‘Incredible, isn’t this fantastic what we’ve done in less than three years,’” Chester states. “But then the following moment you consider: ‘Yeah, there is still quite a lot to do.’”
A Unique Task
Nick Chester achieved victories at the Renault team in Alonso's championship-winning years of the mid-2000s and was in control of engineering strategy at the recently formed Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no other project has truly matched the challenge of bringing the quintessentially American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry sponsored by the corporate entity, GM, into F1.
“Establishing an grand prix team from scratch, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he observes. “There's nothing comparable. In an well-set team you rarely get the possibility to alter team culture.”
With every day that passes minds are increasingly concentrated on the looming moment of truth in the Australian GP and goals are being handled.
“It's reasonable to expect that a brand-new squad coming in is likely to start at the back but just making it to the starting line will be an achievement in itself,” the team principal stated this year and while the CTO echoed this he thought the team had a reputation to build as well.
“The first thing we aim to demonstrate is that we belong on the grid,” Chester explains. “So that we arrive and we operate well. We aim to demonstrate that we’re a proper team performing the correct procedures on the circuit. After we prove that we are a legitimate team, then we will focus on progression from there on.”
Racing Talent and Team Building Drive
In the summer they signed Checo Pérez and Valtteri as their pilots for the 2026 season, a pair distinguished for their invaluable experience in performing at the front in two championship-winning squads, the Red Bull team and the Mercedes team, and the Finnish driver reflected the attitude of fighting spirit.
“Certainly, we’re realistic,” Bottas stated. “There’s going to be a huge amount of work to do, and it will likely be probably a challenging beginning, because this is Formula One. But we aren't joining to finish last. I believe given this organization, with this group, this staff, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to get relatively quickly up to the pace and achieve good results.”
To that end recruitment has been in full swing, with employees now up to over 400 and intended to attain the target of 600 members quickly. Alongside their present headquarters at the Silverstone circuit, the team are in the phase of building an headquarters at the Fishers location in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are constructing the facility to produce the 2029 engine, set for the 2029 season – in the meantime they will operate with Ferrari power units – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Germany. It is a complex organization, at odds with the direction in the sport for greater centralisation, and has inspired the fresh organizational mindset to which Nick Chester referred to.
Space Mission Inspiration
“We've drawn heavily from the NASA moon mission,” remarked the team principal just before the British Grand Prix in July. “We’re realistic, we recognize how challenging it is. The timelines, are incredibly tight. Alright, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it can seem that way.”
So they have implemented, instead of the conventional chain of command, a flat management structure akin to that of NASA's, where there were a assortment of Apollo teams all working on different aspects of the program across a different facilities.
“When you must follow a procedure where an issue arises and they escalate it to their manager, that supervisor consults a supervisor at a different location, it is relayed back, the process is very slow,” says Nick Chester. “Therefore we enable staff to really get on with it. Eliminating hierarchical consent for each action is much smoother and more rapid.”
The Future
The effectiveness of this agile approach will be proven in the intensity of Grand Prix in 2026 and there is a considerable amount riding on this for F1, too. The Cadillac team have taken on as their reserve driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta
