A little more than twelve months ago at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last granted the official approval as Formula One’s newest entry for the 2026 season. Constructing the squad from scratch has entailed a intense pace of work that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the NASA lunar mission. As F1 arrives on Las Vegas this weekend, Cadillac know time is getting tight.
The Countdown to Australia
At the last event of the campaign to be hosted in the United States, with just over 100 days to go before they take to the track for the first time in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a never-ending task, they are conscious there will never be sufficient time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, became part of the newly formed team in the spring of 2023 soon after it was formed, when the squad were without even an official entry. He has been at its heart since then and enjoys a wry smile when thinking about the experience.
“You might get five minutes reflecting at what you have accomplished and say: ‘Amazing, what an achievement what we’ve done in a short three-year period,’” he says. “But then the next minute you consider: ‘Well, there is still a significant amount to do.’”
An Unprecedented Opportunity
Nick Chester enjoyed success at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s victorious seasons of 2005 and 2006 and was in command of technical development at the then-new Mercedes electric racing team, but nothing has truly matched the mission of bringing the iconic American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry backed by the corporate entity, General Motors Corporation, into F1.
“Creating an Formula One team from nothing, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he says. “It is like nothing else. In an established team you rarely get the opportunity to change organizational mindset.”
With each passing day that passes focus are sharper on the looming decisive point in Melbourne and expectations are being managed.
“One must presume that a brand-new squad coming in is likely to start at the back but just making it to the starting line will be an feat in itself,” Graeme Lowdon commented recently and while Nick Chester echoed this he thought the organization had a point to prove as well.
“The initial objective we want to show is that we deserve to be there,” he emphasizes. “So that we turn up and we perform competently. We seek to prove that we are a serious contender executing the proper actions on the race track. Once we prove that we’re really credible, then we aim to demonstrate improvement subsequently.”
Racing Talent and Hiring Drive
In the summer they contracted Checo Pérez and Valtteri as their drivers for 2026, a pair distinguished for their vast knowledge in operating at the front in two of the sport’s biggest teams, the Red Bull team and the Mercedes team, and the Finnish driver reflected the attitude of combative optimism.
“Certainly, we have a realistic outlook,” he said. “We have a mountain of work to do, and we expect almost certainly a difficult start, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we aren't joining to stay at the back. I am confident with this setup, with these individuals, these personnel, there is every reason that we can't manage to advance swiftly up to the pace and achieve good results.”
To achieve that goal staff acquisition has been in top gear, with employees now up to in excess of 400 and intended to attain the goal of 600 rapidly. Complementing their present headquarters at the Silverstone circuit, the organization are in the phase of finishing an headquarters at Fishers in Indianapolis and there is the General Motors facility in North Carolina, where they are constructing the center to produce the power unit, set for 2029 – until then they will use power from Ferrari – and the aerodynamic facility in Germany. It is a complex structure, at odds with the direction in the sport for increased consolidation, and has prompted the new cultural approach to which Chester referred to.
Space Mission Inspiration
“It’s highly modelled on the NASA moon mission,” stated Graeme Lowdon shortly before the British GP in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we recognize how tough it is. The schedules, are incredibly tight. Alright, it's not a space expedition, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have adopted, as opposed to the usual hierarchical system, a decentralized management comparable to that of NASA's, where there were a variety of project teams all focusing on distinct elements of the program across a variety of locations.
“In a system where you follow a procedure where a challenge emerges and they report it to their manager, that leader talks to a supervisor in another department, it goes back down the chain, the process is very slow,” notes Chester. “So we empower people to take charge. Moving away from hierarchical consent for all decisions is so much cleaner and quicker.”
The Future
The effectiveness of this agile methodology will be tested in the heat of competition when the season begins and there is a significant degree riding on this for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their test driver the young Californian Colton Herta
