Approximately one year in the past at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately given the go-ahead as Formula One’s most recent participant for the 2026 season. Building the organization from scratch has required a frenetic operating tempo that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the NASA lunar mission. As the sport converges on Las Vegas this race weekend, the team are aware the deadline is approaching.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the final race of the season to be held in the US, with approximately three months to go before they take to the track for the inaugural time in Australia at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a monumental endeavor, they are aware there will never be adequate time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, joined the newly formed operation in March 2023 not long after it was formed, when the team were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its core ever since and enjoys a amused expression when considering the ride.
“You might get a brief moment thinking back at what the team has achieved and think: ‘Incredible, isn’t this fantastic what we’ve done in under three years,’” he says. “Then the following moment you consider: ‘Well, there is still quite a lot to do.’”
A Unique Opportunity
Chester achieved victories at the Renault team in Alonso's title-winning seasons of 2005 and 2006 and was in control of engineering strategy at the then-new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but nothing has quite compared with the challenge of launching the iconic American Cadillac marque, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the corporate entity, GM, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Establishing an Formula One team from the ground up, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he says. “There's nothing comparable. In an well-set team you don’t get the opportunity to alter organizational mindset.”
With every day that passes minds are sharper on the looming decisive point in the Australian GP and targets are being managed.
“It's reasonable to expect that any new team coming in is likely to start at the back but just making it to the starting line will be an accomplishment in itself,” the team principal stated recently and while Nick Chester echoed this he thought the squad had a point to prove as well.
“The initial objective we aim to demonstrate is that we should be there,” Chester explains. “So that we show up and we operate well. We want to show that we are a serious contender performing the proper actions on the race track. After we have demonstrated that we are a legitimate team, then we want to show forward movement after that.”
Pilot Selection and Recruitment Drive
In August they recruited Checo Pérez and Valtteri as their racers for the 2026 season, a duo remarkable for their invaluable experience in competing at the sharp end in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull and Mercedes-AMG, and Valtteri Bottas reflected the mood of combative optimism.
“Of course, we are pragmatic,” he said. “We have a mountain of work to do, and we expect most likely a difficult start, because it is F1. But we’re not there to remain at the rear. I believe with this structure, with these individuals, this staff, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to advance swiftly to the front and achieve good results.”
To that end recruitment has been in overdrive, with staff now at more than 400 and scheduled to reach the objective of six hundred rapidly. In addition to their current base at the Silverstone circuit, the organization are in the process of building an headquarters at the Fishers location in Indianapolis and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, where they are building the facility to build the new engine, scheduled for the 2029 season – in the meantime they will operate with Ferrari power units – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a complex organisation, at odds with the movement in Formula One for increased consolidation, and has prompted the fresh organizational mindset to which Chester referred to.
Space Mission Model
“It's closely based on the NASA moon mission,” stated Lowdon ahead of the British GP in the summer. “We have a clear-eyed view, we know how tough it is. The schedules, are incredibly tight. OK, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it can seem that way.”
So they have implemented, rather than the usual hierarchical system, a non-hierarchical approach akin to that of Nasa’s, where there were a range of specialist groups all tackling distinct elements of the mission at a variety of locations.
“If you have to go through a protocol where an issue arises and they report it to their manager, that leader talks to a supervisor in another department, it is relayed back, the process is very slow,” notes Chester. “Therefore we enable people to really get on with it. Eliminating managerial sign-off for everything is much smoother and quicker.”
The Future
The efficacy of this agile methodology will be proven in the intensity of Grand Prix in 2026 and there is a significant degree riding on this for Formula One, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their development driver the emerging American Colton Herta
