Approximately one year in the past at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were at last given the green light as the world of Formula One's most recent participant for the 2026 season. Constructing the team from the ground up has entailed a frenetic pace of work that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo moon landing. As F1 descends on the Vegas strip this race weekend, Cadillac are aware the clock is ticking.
The Race Against Time to Australia
At the final race of the season to be hosted in the America, with approximately three months to go before they take to the track for the inaugural time in Australia at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a never-ending endeavor, they are cognizant there will not be enough hours in the day.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, became part of the embryonic team in March 2023 shortly after it was established, when the squad were without even an approved entry. He has been at its center ever since and enjoys a amused expression when thinking about the journey.
“You might get a brief moment looking back at what you have accomplished and think: ‘Wow, what an achievement what the team has created in a short three-year period,’” Chester states. “Then the following moment you think: ‘Well, we’ve still got quite a lot to do.’”
A Unique Challenge
Chester had success at the Renault team in Alonso's title-winning seasons of the mid-2000s and was in command of technical direction at the recently formed Mercedes electric racing team, but no previous experience has quite compared with the mission of launching the all-American Cadillac marque, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the owner, General Motors Corporation, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Building an grand prix 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 existing team you don’t get the opportunity to alter team culture.”
With every day that elapses thoughts are more focused on the impending moment of truth in Melbourne and expectations are being set realistically.
“You have to assume that a brand-new squad coming in is going to be last but just making it to the starting line will be an accomplishment in itself,” Graeme Lowdon noted recently and while Nick Chester shared this view he thought the organization had a reputation to build as well.
“The first thing we aim to demonstrate is that we belong on the grid,” he says. “In order that we arrive and we function efficiently. We seek to prove that we’re a proper team performing the proper actions on the circuit. After we’ve shown that we’re really credible, then we will focus on progression after that.”
Racing Talent and Hiring Effort
In late summer they recruited Checo Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their pilots for the 2026 season, a duo remarkable for their invaluable experience in competing at the leading positions in two championship-winning squads, the Red Bull team and Mercedes, and Valtteri Bottas expressed the attitude of determined optimism.
“Of course, we are pragmatic,” he said. “We face a massive task to do, and it’s going to be probably a tough opening, because it's the top level of motorsport. But our goal isn't to remain at the rear. I am confident with this setup, with these individuals, this staff, there’s no reason why we won't be able to get relatively quickly to a competitive level and enjoy some success.”
To realize that ambition recruitment has been in overdrive, with employees now reaching more than 400 and scheduled to reach the target of 600 members quickly. In addition to their present headquarters at the Silverstone circuit, the organization are in the process of building an HQ at Fishers in Indy and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are constructing the plant to manufacture the power unit, set for 2029 – until then they will run power from Ferrari – and the aerodynamic facility in Germany. It is a intricate organisation, at odds with the trend in the sport for increased consolidation, and has inspired the innovative team culture to which the CTO referred to.
NASA Model
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo program,” remarked Lowdon ahead of the Silverstone race in July. “We are pragmatic, we understand how difficult it is. The schedules, 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 adopted, instead of the traditional management structure, a flat management structure similar to that of the space agency's, where there were a range of specialist groups all focusing on various components of the program at a variety of locations.
“When you must follow a procedure where an issue arises and they escalate it to their team leader, that manager talks to a leader somewhere else, it travels back down, it’s super slow,” says Nick Chester. “So we empower people to really get on with it. Avoiding managerial sign-off for everything is far more efficient and faster.”
What Lies Ahead
The effectiveness of this nimble strategy will be tested in the pressure of racing when the season begins and there is a considerable amount on the line for the sport, too. Cadillac have recruited as their test driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta
