Approximately twelve months in the past at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were at last granted the official approval as Formula One’s most recent entrant for 2026. Building the organization from the ground up has entailed a intense pace of work that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo moon landing. As the sport descends on Las Vegas this race weekend, the team know the deadline is approaching.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the season finale of the campaign to be held in the US, with around three months to go before they hit the circuit for the first time in Melbourne at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a monumental challenge, they are conscious there will not be adequate time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, came aboard the newly formed project in the spring of 2023 not long after it was formed, when the team were without even an approved entry. He has been at its core ever since and enjoys a knowing grin when considering the experience.
“There might be a short period thinking back at what you’ve done and go: ‘Incredible, how impressive what we have built in less than three years,’” he says. “And then the next minute you think: ‘Well, there is still a great deal to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Challenge
The CTO had success at Renault in Alonso's victorious years of the mid-2000s and was in command of technical direction at the then-new Mercedes Formula E team, but nothing has been quite like the challenge of bringing the iconic American Cadillac marque, a manufacturer-backed entry backed by the owner, General Motors, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Creating an Formula One team from nothing, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” Chester remarks. “There's nothing comparable. In an established team you don’t get the opportunity to change organizational mindset.”
With each passing day that elapses focus are sharper on the impending critical moment in the Australian GP 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 merely participating will be an accomplishment in itself,” Lowdon commented earlier this year and while Chester agreed with this sentiment he thought the team had a point to prove as well.
“The initial objective we aim to demonstrate is that we should be there,” Chester explains. “In order that we show up and we operate well. We seek to prove that we’re a proper team doing the correct procedures on the track. When we’ve shown that we’re really credible, then we aim to demonstrate improvement subsequently.”
Driver Lineup and Recruitment Effort
In late summer they recruited Sergio Perez and Valtteri as their racers for 2026, a tandem notable for their vast knowledge in operating at the front in two championship-winning squads, the Red Bull team and the Mercedes team, and the Finnish driver expressed the sentiment of determined optimism.
“Certainly, we’re realistic,” he said. “We have a massive task to do, and it will likely be almost certainly a tough opening, because this is Formula One. But our goal isn't to remain at the rear. I believe given this organization, with this team, this staff, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to advance swiftly to a competitive level and enjoy some success.”
To achieve that goal staff acquisition has been in overdrive, with personnel now at over 400 and intended to hit the target of 600 members rapidly. In addition to their present headquarters at the UK base, the squad are in the phase of finishing an HQ at Fishers, Indiana in Indianapolis and there is the GM works in North Carolina, where they are building the center to manufacture the new engine, set for 2029 – for now they will use Ferrari power units – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Germany. It is a complex organisation, different from the trend in F1 for more centralization, and has inspired the innovative team culture to which the CTO referred.
NASA Inspiration
“It's closely based on the Apollo program,” stated the team principal ahead of the Silverstone race in July. “We are pragmatic, we recognize how tough it is. The schedules, they’re super, super, super short. Alright, it's not a space expedition, but it can seem that way.”
So they have embraced, instead of the usual hierarchical system, a non-hierarchical approach similar to that of NASA's, where there were a assortment of project teams all focusing on different aspects of the mission in a different facilities.
“If you have to go through a process where an issue arises and they report it to their team leader, that supervisor communicates with a manager in another department, it is relayed back, it becomes inefficient,” explains Nick Chester. “We give authority to people to take charge. Avoiding managerial sign-off for everything is far more efficient and faster.”
What Lies Ahead
The efficacy of this nimble approach will be evaluated in the heat of competition in 2026 and there is a significant degree on the line for Formula One, too. The Cadillac team have taken on as their test driver the emerging American Colton Herta
