Just over twelve months previously at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally granted the go-ahead as Formula One’s newest participant for 2026. Constructing the squad from the ground up has required a hectic operating tempo that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the NASA lunar mission. As F1 arrives on the Vegas strip this weekend, Cadillac understand the clock is ticking.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the final race of the campaign to be held in the US, with approximately 100 days to go before they hit the circuit for the inaugural time in Australia at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a monumental task, they are conscious there will not be enough hours in the day.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, came aboard the embryonic project in the spring of 2023 soon after it was formed, when the team were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its core since then and enjoys a wry smile when considering the journey.
“There might be a brief moment looking back at what the team has achieved and say: ‘Wow, how impressive what we’ve done in under three years,’” he says. “But then the following moment you think: ‘Yes, we’ve still got a great deal to do.’”
A Unique Task
Nick 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 then-new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but nothing has truly matched the challenge of introducing the quintessentially American Cadillac marque, a works entry supported by the owner, General Motors Corporation, into F1.
“Creating an F1 team from scratch, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” Chester remarks. “There's nothing comparable. In an existing team you won't have the opportunity to transform cultural approach.”
With each passing day that goes by focus are sharper on the impending critical moment in the Australian GP and targets are being set realistically.
“One must presume that any incoming 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 Chester echoed this he thought the squad had a statement to make as well.
“Our primary goal we want to show is that we belong on the grid,” he says. “In order that we turn up and we function efficiently. We aim to demonstrate that we’re a proper team performing the right things on the track. When we’ve shown that we are a legitimate team, then we will focus on forward movement from there on.”
Racing Talent and Recruitment Push
In the summer they recruited Checo Pérez and Valtteri as their racers for 2026, a duo notable for their priceless expertise in competing at the sharp end in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull Racing and the Mercedes team, and Valtteri Bottas expressed the attitude of combative optimism.
“Naturally, we are pragmatic,” he commented. “There’s going to be a massive task to do, and we expect almost certainly a tough opening, because it's the top level of motorsport. But our goal isn't to finish last. I am confident with this structure, with this group, these people, there’s no reason why we won't be able to progress rapidly up to the pace and achieve good results.”
To achieve that goal recruitment has been in top gear, with staff now up to in excess of 400 and planned to attain the goal of 600 rapidly. In addition to their current base at the Silverstone circuit, the squad are in the phase of finishing an HQ at the Fishers location in the Indianapolis area and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, where they are developing the plant to manufacture the power unit, set for 2029 – until then they will run power from Ferrari – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Germany. It is a complex organisation, at odds with the trend in F1 for more centralization, and has led to the fresh organizational mindset to which Nick Chester referred.
Space Mission Inspiration
“It's closely based on the Apollo project,” said the team principal shortly before the Silverstone race in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we know how tough it is. The schedules, they’re super, super, super short. Well, it's not a space expedition, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have implemented, as opposed to the conventional chain of command, a non-hierarchical approach similar to that of Nasa’s, where there were a range of specialist groups all focusing on various components of the mission across a variety of locations.
“If you have to go through a process where an issue arises and they report it to their manager, that supervisor consults a supervisor at a different location, it goes back down the chain, the process is very slow,” says Chester. “Therefore we enable staff to take charge. Moving away from management approval for everything is much smoother and faster.”
Upcoming Challenges
The efficacy of this agile strategy will be tested in the pressure of racing next season and there is a significant degree at stake for Formula One, too. Cadillac have taken on as their development driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
