Approximately one year in the past at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately awarded the official approval as Formula One’s latest participant for the 2026 season. Building the organization from the ground up has required a frenetic operating tempo that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo program. As the sport converges on Vegas this race weekend, the team are aware the clock is ticking.
The Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the season finale of the campaign to be held in the America, with around a hundred days to go before they make their debut for the first time in Australia at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a never-ending challenge, they are cognizant there will never be adequate time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, joined the nascent operation in March 2023 not long after it was formed, when the squad were without even an official entry. He has been at its center ever since and enjoys a knowing grin when reflecting on the ride.
“You can have five minutes looking back at what you’ve done and go: ‘Amazing, what an achievement what we have built in under three years,’” Chester states. “Then the next minute you think: ‘Yes, we still have quite a lot to do.’”
An Unprecedented Challenge
The CTO had success at Renault in the driver Fernando Alonso's championship-winning seasons of 2005/2006 and was in command of engineering strategy at the then-new Mercedes Formula E team, but no other project has quite compared with the mission of introducing the quintessentially American Cadillac brand, a works entry sponsored by the corporate entity, General Motors, into Formula One.
“Creating an Formula One team from scratch, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” Chester remarks. “It's unparalleled. In an well-set team you won't have the possibility to transform cultural approach.”
With each day that passes minds are sharper on the approaching moment of truth in Australia and targets are being set realistically.
“You have to assume that any incoming team entering the sport is likely to start at the back but simply getting on to the grid will be an feat in itself,” the team principal stated recently and while the CTO shared this view he felt the team had a statement to make as well.
“The first thing we want to show is that we should be there,” he emphasizes. “So we show up and we perform competently. We want to show that we are a serious contender executing the proper actions on the track. When we have demonstrated that we are a legitimate team, then we will focus on forward movement after that.”
Pilot Selection and Hiring Push
In late summer they recruited Checo Pérez and Bottas as their racers for 2026, a tandem distinguished for their invaluable experience in performing at the sharp end in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull Racing and the Mercedes team, and the Finnish driver reflected the sentiment of fighting spirit.
“Of course, we have a realistic outlook,” he commented. “We have a huge amount of work to do, and it will likely be most likely a difficult start, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we’re not there to finish last. I am confident given this organization, with this group, this staff, it's entirely possible we won't be able to get relatively quickly to the front and enjoy some success.”
To realize that ambition recruitment has been in full swing, with staff now reaching in excess of 400 and intended to attain the objective of 600 quickly. Alongside their existing facility at Silverstone, the organization are in the process of finishing an HQ at Fishers, Indiana in Indy and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, where they are building the center to manufacture the new engine, scheduled for 2029 – in the meantime they will use Ferrari engines – and the aerodynamic facility in Germany. It is a sophisticated organization, different from the direction in Formula One for increased consolidation, and has led to the innovative team culture to which Nick Chester referred to.
Space Mission Blueprint
“We've drawn heavily from the NASA moon mission,” stated Lowdon shortly before the British GP in mid-season. “We have a clear-eyed view, we recognize how difficult it is. The timelines, are incredibly tight. Well, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have implemented, instead of the traditional management structure, a non-hierarchical approach akin to that of NASA's, where there were a range of specialist groups all tackling various components of the program in a multiple sites.
“When you must follow a process where a challenge emerges and they raise it up to their team leader, that leader communicates with a leader at a different location, it goes back down the chain, it’s super slow,” notes Chester. “Therefore we enable team members to handle things directly. Moving away from hierarchical consent for everything is much smoother and faster.”
Upcoming Challenges
The effectiveness of this nimble strategy will be tested in the heat of competition in 2026 and there is a considerable amount on the line for the sport, too. Cadillac have recruited as their development driver the emerging American Colton Herta
