A little more than twelve months ago at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally granted the go-ahead as the world of Formula One's newest entry for 2026. Building the team from the ground up has required a intense work rate that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the NASA lunar mission. As Formula One arrives on Las Vegas this weekend, Cadillac understand the clock is ticking.
The Tight Timeline to Melbourne
At the final race of the championship to be held in the US, with around three months to go before they take to the track for the maiden outing in Melbourne at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a never-ending challenge, they are aware there will not be sufficient time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, became part of the newly formed operation in the spring of 2023 shortly after it was formed, when the squad were without even an official entry. He has been at its center since then and has a amused expression when thinking about the experience.
“There might be a short period thinking back at what you’ve done and think: ‘Amazing, how impressive what we have built in a short three-year period,’” he says. “Then the following moment you consider: ‘Yeah, there is still a significant amount to do.’”
An Unprecedented Task
Chester had success at the Renault team in Alonso's championship-winning seasons of 2005/2006 and was in charge of engineering strategy at the new Mercedes electric racing team, but no other project has truly matched the task of bringing the iconic American Cadillac marque, a works entry supported by the corporate entity, General Motors Corporation, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Building an Formula One team from nothing, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he says. “There's nothing comparable. In an well-set team you rarely get the chance to transform team culture.”
With each passing day that goes by minds are increasingly concentrated on the approaching moment of truth in the Australian GP and targets are being set realistically.
“You have to assume that a brand-new squad entering the sport is going to be last but just making it to the starting line will be an accomplishment in itself,” Graeme Lowdon commented recently and while Nick Chester shared this view he felt the team had a reputation to build as well.
“The first thing we intend to prove is that we belong on the grid,” he emphasizes. “So that we show up and we perform competently. We want to show that we’re a proper team doing the proper actions on the track. Once we prove that we’re really credible, then we aim to demonstrate progression from there on.”
Pilot Selection and Hiring Effort
In late summer they recruited Sergio Pérez and Valtteri as their drivers for 2026, a duo notable for their invaluable experience in performing at the sharp end in two top-tier teams, Red Bull and Mercedes, and the Finnish driver reflected the mood of combative optimism.
“Of course, we are pragmatic,” he said. “We have a mountain of work to do, and it’s going to be most likely a tough opening, because this is Formula One. But we’re not there to finish last. I believe with this setup, with this group, these personnel, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to advance swiftly to a competitive level and taste victory.”
To realize that ambition staff acquisition has been in overdrive, with personnel now at in excess of 400 and planned to attain the target of 600 swiftly. Alongside their existing facility at the UK base, the squad are in the process of building an main base at the Fishers location in the Indianapolis area and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, where they are developing the center to produce the power unit, planned for 2029 – in the meantime they will use Ferrari power units – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a intricate structure, contrary to the movement in F1 for greater centralisation, and has prompted the innovative team culture to which the CTO referred.
Apollo Blueprint
“It's closely based on the Apollo project,” said Graeme Lowdon just before the Silverstone race in the summer. “We’re realistic, we understand how challenging it is. The schedules, are extremely compressed. OK, it's not a space expedition, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have embraced, instead of the conventional chain of command, a decentralized management akin to that of NASA's, where there were a variety of Apollo teams all focusing on distinct elements of the mission at a different facilities.
“When you must follow a protocol where an issue arises and they escalate it to their supervisor, that supervisor consults a leader somewhere else, it goes back down the chain, it becomes inefficient,” says the CTO. “So we empower team members to take charge. Moving away from managerial sign-off for each action is much smoother and faster.”
What Lies Ahead
The efficacy of this flexible strategy will be tested in the heat of competition in 2026 and there is a considerable amount riding on this for Formula One, too. Cadillac have taken on as their development driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
