Just over one year ago at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately given the official approval as the world of Formula One's most recent entrant for 2026. Constructing the team from nothing has entailed a intense work rate that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the NASA lunar mission. As Formula One descends on Las Vegas this race weekend, the team are aware the deadline is approaching.
The Race Against Time to Australia
At the last event of the season to be staged in the America, with just over three months to go before they make their debut for the maiden outing in Melbourne at the 2026 opener, the Cadillac F1 project have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a never-ending task, they are cognizant there will not be adequate time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, came aboard the newly formed project in the spring of 2023 shortly after it was created, when the team were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its heart since then and enjoys a wry smile when reflecting on the ride.
“You can have a short period thinking back at what the team has achieved and say: ‘Wow, what an achievement what we have built in under three years,’” he says. “Then the next minute you consider: ‘Well, we still have a significant amount to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Task
Nick Chester achieved victories at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s championship-winning years of 2005 and 2006 and was in control of technical direction at the recently formed Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no other project has been quite like the mission of bringing the iconic American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry backed by the corporate entity, General Motors Corporation, into Formula One.
“Creating an F1 team from the ground up, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he says. “There's nothing comparable. In an well-set team you rarely get the opportunity to change cultural approach.”
With each passing day that goes by minds are sharper on the approaching decisive point in Australia and expectations are being managed.
“One must presume that a brand-new squad entering the sport is likely to start at the back but just making it to the starting line will be an achievement in itself,” the team principal stated earlier this year and while Nick Chester agreed with this sentiment he felt the organization 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 want to show that this is a professional operation performing the correct procedures on the circuit. Once we prove that our credentials are solid, then we aim to demonstrate forward movement from there on.”
Racing Talent and Hiring Effort
In late summer they recruited Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas as their pilots for 2026, a pair distinguished for their invaluable experience in operating at the sharp end in two top-tier teams, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes, and Valtteri Bottas expressed the attitude of fighting spirit.
“Of course, we’re realistic,” he said. “We face a massive task to do, and it’s going to be probably a challenging beginning, because this is Formula One. But our goal isn't to finish last. I believe with this structure, with these individuals, these people, it's entirely possible we shouldn’t be able to progress rapidly to the front and enjoy some success.”
To realize that ambition recruitment has been in overdrive, with personnel now reaching more than 400 and intended to reach the goal of 600 rapidly. In addition to their existing facility at the UK base, the team are in the midst of completing an HQ at the Fishers location in Indy and there is the GM plant in North Carolina, where they are developing the center to produce the 2029 engine, planned for the 2029 season – for now they will operate with power from Ferrari – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a intricate organisation, contrary to the trend in Formula One for increased consolidation, and has prompted the fresh organizational mindset to which Chester alluded.
NASA Blueprint
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo project,” said the team principal shortly before the British GP in mid-season. “We’re realistic, we understand how challenging it is. The schedules, are incredibly tight. OK, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have implemented, rather than the conventional chain of command, a flat management structure akin to that of NASA's, where there were a variety of project teams all focusing on various components of the program at a variety of locations.
“When you must follow a procedure where a challenge emerges and they raise it up to their team leader, that manager talks to a leader in another department, it travels back down, it becomes inefficient,” says Nick Chester. “So we empower team members to handle things directly. Moving away from management approval for everything is far more efficient and quicker.”
Upcoming Challenges
The efficacy of this agile approach will be evaluated in the heat of competition when the season begins and there is a considerable amount at stake for Formula One, too. The Cadillac team have taken on as their development driver the young American Colton Herta
