A little more than a full year previously at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were at last granted the official approval as the world of Formula One's newest entrant for 2026. Constructing the team from scratch has required a intense work rate that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo program. As the sport arrives on the Vegas strip this race weekend, Cadillac are aware the deadline is approaching.
The Tight Timeline to Australia
At the final race of the season to be staged in the America, with just over a hundred days to go before they take to the track for the maiden outing 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 challenge, they are conscious there will never be adequate time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, became part of the nascent team in the spring of 2023 soon after it was formed, when the squad were without even an approved entry. He has been at its core from that point and has a amused expression when reflecting on the journey.
“There might be a short period looking back at what you have accomplished and think: ‘Amazing, how impressive what the team has created in less than three years,’” he notes. “And then the following moment you consider: ‘Yeah, we still have quite a lot to do.’”
A Unique Task
Chester had success at Renault in the driver Fernando Alonso's title-winning seasons of 2005/2006 and was in charge of engineering strategy at the recently formed Mercedes electric racing team, but nothing has been quite like the task of bringing the all-American Cadillac brand, a manufacturer-backed entry backed by the parent company, General Motors, into F1.
“Creating an grand prix team from nothing, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he says. “It is like nothing else. In an established team you don’t get the opportunity to transform team culture.”
With each day that goes by focus are increasingly concentrated on the impending critical moment in Australia and targets are being set realistically.
“One must presume that a brand-new squad coming in is probably going to finish last but just making it to the starting line will be an achievement in itself,” Lowdon commented earlier this year and while Chester shared this view he felt the organization had a reputation to build as well.
“The initial objective we aim to demonstrate is that we deserve to be there,” he emphasizes. “In order that we show up and we operate well. We aim to demonstrate that this is a professional operation executing the correct procedures on the circuit. When we have demonstrated that our credentials are solid, then we aim to demonstrate progression from there on.”
Driver Lineup and Hiring Drive
In late summer they recruited Checo Pérez and Valtteri as their racers for 2026, a duo remarkable for their priceless expertise in performing at the leading positions in two top-tier teams, the Red Bull team and the Mercedes team, and Bottas echoed the attitude of determined optimism.
“Naturally, we’re realistic,” he commented. “There’s going to be a mountain of work to do, and it will likely be almost certainly a challenging beginning, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we aren't joining to finish last. In my view given this organization, with these individuals, this staff, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to advance swiftly up to the pace and enjoy some success.”
To realize that ambition staff acquisition has been in top gear, with personnel now reaching in excess of 400 and scheduled to reach the target of 600 quickly. Complementing their current base at Silverstone, the team are in the process of building an main base at the Fishers location in Indy and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are developing the center to produce the 2029 engine, planned for 2029 – for now they will operate with power from Ferrari – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a intricate structure, different from the direction in the sport for more centralization, and has inspired the fresh organizational mindset to which Nick Chester referred to.
NASA Blueprint
“It’s highly modelled on the NASA moon mission,” said Lowdon just before the British Grand Prix in July. “We are pragmatic, we recognize how difficult it is. The schedules, are incredibly tight. Well, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it can seem that way.”
So they have embraced, rather than the conventional chain of command, a non-hierarchical approach comparable to that of NASA's, where there were a variety of specialist groups all focusing on different aspects of the project in a different facilities.
“In a system where you follow a process where a challenge emerges and they escalate it to their team leader, that manager consults a leader somewhere else, it goes back down the chain, the process is very slow,” says Chester. “Therefore we enable staff to take charge. Moving away from managerial sign-off for each action is much smoother and faster.”
The Future
The efficacy of this flexible approach will be evaluated in the intensity of Grand Prix when the season begins and there is a significant degree riding on this for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have taken on as their test driver the young Californian Colton Herta
