Just over one year ago at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately granted the go-ahead as the world of Formula One's most recent entry for the 2026 season. Establishing the organization from the ground up has involved a frenetic pace of work that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo program. As Formula One arrives on Las Vegas this race weekend, the team are aware time is getting tight.
The Tight Timeline to Melbourne
At the final race of the campaign to be held in the United States, with just over 100 days to go before they make their debut for the inaugural time in Australia at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a never-ending challenge, they are conscious there will never be enough hours in the day.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, came aboard the nascent team in early 2023 soon after it was created, when the squad were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its heart from that point and has a knowing grin when considering the experience.
“You might get a short period looking back at what you’ve done and go: ‘Incredible, how impressive what we’ve done in under three years,’” Chester states. “And then the very next instant you think: ‘Well, we’ve still got quite a lot to do.’”
A Unique Challenge
Nick Chester achieved victories at the Renault team in Alonso's title-winning campaigns of 2005 and 2006 and was in charge of technical development at the then-new Mercedes electric racing team, but no previous experience has quite compared with the task of launching the quintessentially American Cadillac brand, a factory team sponsored by the owner, General Motors Corporation, into F1.
“Building an F1 team from nothing, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” Chester remarks. “It's unparalleled. In an existing team you won't have the possibility to change team culture.”
With each day that goes by thoughts are sharper on the approaching critical moment in Melbourne and targets are being managed.
“One must presume that a brand-new squad coming in is going to be last but merely participating will be an accomplishment in itself,” the team principal noted this year and while Nick Chester agreed with this sentiment he felt the squad had a statement to make as well.
“Our primary goal we want to show is that we should be there,” he says. “In order that we show up and we operate well. We seek to prove that we are a serious contender executing the right things on the track. After we prove that we’re really credible, then we aim to demonstrate forward movement after that.”
Driver Lineup and Team Building Push
In August they signed Sergio Pérez and Bottas as their pilots for 2026, a pair distinguished for their priceless expertise in performing at the leading positions in two of the sport’s biggest teams, the Red Bull team and Mercedes, and the Finnish driver reflected the attitude of fighting spirit.
“Of course, we have a realistic outlook,” he said. “There’s going to be a mountain of work to do, and it will likely be most likely a tough opening, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we’re not there to finish last. I am confident with this setup, with these individuals, these people, there is every reason that we can't manage to progress rapidly to a competitive level and enjoy some success.”
To that end hiring has been in top gear, with personnel now reaching more than 400 and planned to reach the target of 600 swiftly. In addition to their current base at Silverstone, the organization are in the process of building an HQ at Fishers, Indiana in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM works in North Carolina, where they are constructing the plant to build the power unit, scheduled for the 2029 season – until then they will operate with power from Ferrari – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a intricate structure, at odds with the trend in F1 for greater centralisation, and has prompted the new cultural approach to which Nick Chester alluded.
Space Mission Inspiration
“It's closely based on the NASA moon mission,” remarked Graeme Lowdon just before the British Grand Prix in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we recognize how tough it is. The timelines, are extremely compressed. Alright, it's not a space expedition, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have implemented, rather than the traditional management structure, a decentralized management similar to that of NASA's, where there were a assortment of project teams all tackling distinct elements of the program in a multiple sites.
“When you must follow a process where an issue arises and they raise it up to their supervisor, that supervisor consults a manager at a different location, it is relayed back, it’s super slow,” notes Chester. “So we empower team members to really get on with it. Moving away from managerial sign-off for all decisions is far more efficient and quicker.”
The Future
The success of this nimble approach will be evaluated in the heat of competition when the season begins and there is a significant degree on the line for Formula One, too. Cadillac have taken on as their test driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta
