Just over twelve months in the past at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally given the go-ahead as the world of Formula One's most recent entrant for 2026. Establishing the squad from scratch has entailed a hectic pace of work that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo program. As the sport converges on Vegas this weekend, Cadillac understand the clock is ticking.
The Race Against Time to Australia
At the last event of the campaign to be held in the US, with just over a hundred days to go before they take to the track for the inaugural time in Australia at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a sisyphean task, they are conscious there will not be sufficient time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, became part of the newly formed project in March 2023 not long after it was created, when the team were without even an official entry. He has been at its center ever since and enjoys a amused expression when reflecting on the ride.
“You might get five minutes reflecting at what you have accomplished and go: ‘Wow, isn’t this fantastic what we’ve done in a short three-year period,’” he notes. “Then the next minute you consider: ‘Well, we’ve still got quite a lot to do.’”
An Unprecedented Task
The CTO achieved victories at Renault in Alonso's championship-winning campaigns of 2005 and 2006 and was in command of technical direction at the recently formed Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no other project has quite compared with the challenge of bringing the all-American Cadillac brand, a manufacturer-backed entry sponsored by the parent company, GM, into Formula One.
“Establishing an grand prix team from scratch, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he says. “It's unparalleled. In an existing team you rarely get the chance to change organizational mindset.”
With each day that elapses focus are sharper on the looming decisive point in Melbourne and targets are being handled.
“One must presume that a brand-new squad entering the sport is probably going to finish last but just making it to the starting line will be an feat in itself,” the team principal noted earlier this year and while the CTO echoed this he felt the organization had a statement to make as well.
“Our primary goal we aim to demonstrate is that we should be there,” he says. “So we turn up and we perform competently. We seek to prove that this is a professional operation executing the proper actions on the race track. Once we have demonstrated that we are a legitimate team, then we aim to demonstrate progression subsequently.”
Racing Talent and Hiring Push
In August they recruited Sergio Perez and Bottas as their racers for the 2026 season, a tandem distinguished for their priceless expertise in performing at the leading positions in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull and Mercedes-AMG, and Valtteri Bottas reflected the sentiment of combative optimism.
“Naturally, we’re realistic,” Bottas stated. “We have a mountain of work to do, and we expect most likely a difficult start, because this is Formula One. But we aren't joining to remain at the rear. I am confident given this organization, with these individuals, these people, it's entirely possible we won't be able to get relatively quickly up to the pace and achieve good results.”
To realize that ambition hiring has been in overdrive, with personnel now up to more than 400 and planned to attain the objective of 600 members swiftly. Complementing their current base at Silverstone, the organization are in the midst of building an HQ at the Fishers location in Indianapolis and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are constructing the plant to build the 2029 engine, planned for 2029 – for now they will use Ferrari engines – and the aerodynamic facility in Germany. It is a sophisticated organization, at odds with the movement in Formula One for increased consolidation, and has led to the new cultural approach to which the CTO referred.
Space Mission Blueprint
“We've drawn heavily from the NASA moon mission,” said the team principal ahead of the Silverstone race in mid-season. “We’re realistic, we know how challenging it is. The schedules, are extremely compressed. Alright, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have adopted, rather than the usual hierarchical system, a non-hierarchical approach comparable to that of NASA's, where there were a range of project teams all focusing on distinct elements of the mission in a multiple sites.
“If you have to go through a process where a challenge emerges and they escalate it to their manager, that manager talks to a manager somewhere else, it is relayed back, it’s super slow,” says the CTO. “We give authority to staff to take charge. Moving away from managerial sign-off for each action is so much cleaner and faster.”
What Lies Ahead
The effectiveness of this agile methodology will be proven in the intensity of Grand Prix in 2026 and there is no little amount at stake for Formula One, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their development driver the young American Colton Herta
