Just over twelve months in the past at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately given the official approval as Formula One’s latest participant for 2026. Constructing the team from the ground up has involved a hectic pace of work that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo program. As the sport descends on Las Vegas this weekend, Cadillac understand the clock is ticking.
The Tight Timeline to Melbourne
At the season finale of the campaign to be hosted in the America, with just over a hundred days to go before they take to the track for the first time in Australia at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a never-ending endeavor, they are conscious there will not be sufficient time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, came aboard the newly formed team in the spring of 2023 not long after it was formed, when the squad were without even an official entry. He has been at its heart ever since and enjoys a wry smile when reflecting on the experience.
“You might get five minutes looking back at what you have accomplished and think: ‘Incredible, what an achievement what we have built in less than three years,’” Chester states. “And then the very next instant you realize: ‘Yes, we’ve still got a significant amount to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Task
The CTO had success at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s title-winning seasons of 2005/2006 and was in command of technical development at the new Mercedes Formula E team, but no previous experience has truly matched the task of launching the all-American Cadillac marque, a manufacturer-backed entry backed by the parent company, GM, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Creating an F1 team from nothing, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” Chester remarks. “It's unparalleled. In an well-set team you won't have the possibility to change cultural approach.”
With each day that goes by thoughts are increasingly concentrated on the impending critical moment in the Australian GP and goals are being set realistically.
“One must presume that any incoming team coming in is going to be last but merely participating will be an achievement in itself,” Lowdon stated earlier this year and while Nick Chester echoed this he felt the organization had a statement to make as well.
“The first thing we want to show is that we deserve to be there,” he says. “So that we arrive and we perform competently. We seek to prove that we’re a proper team executing the right things on the circuit. When we have demonstrated that we’re really credible, then we want to show progression from there on.”
Driver Lineup and Team Building Drive
In the summer they contracted Sergio Perez and Bottas as their racers for 2026, a duo remarkable for their priceless expertise in operating at the leading positions in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull and Mercedes-AMG, and Valtteri Bottas reflected the attitude of combative optimism.
“Of course, we have a realistic outlook,” he commented. “We have a mountain of work to do, and it will likely be most likely a tough opening, because this is Formula One. But we aren't joining to finish last. In my view with this setup, with this group, this staff, it's entirely possible we won't be able to advance swiftly to a competitive level and taste victory.”
To that end hiring has been in full swing, with employees now at more than 400 and intended to attain the target of six hundred rapidly. Alongside their existing facility at the Silverstone circuit, the squad are in the process of finishing an main base at Fishers, Indiana in Indy and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are building the facility to build the new engine, set for 2029 – until then they will run Ferrari engines – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a complex organisation, different from the trend in F1 for greater centralisation, and has led to the fresh organizational mindset to which Nick Chester referred.
NASA Blueprint
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo project,” stated Graeme Lowdon just before the British GP in July. “We are pragmatic, we understand how challenging it is. The deadlines, are incredibly tight. Alright, it's not a space expedition, but it can seem that way.”
So they have embraced, instead of the traditional management structure, a flat management structure similar to that of Nasa’s, where there were a assortment of specialist groups all tackling different aspects of the mission in a variety of locations.
“When you must follow a procedure where a challenge emerges and they report it to their team leader, that manager communicates with a leader somewhere else, it is relayed back, it’s super slow,” says Nick Chester. “Therefore we enable team members to take charge. Moving away from managerial sign-off for each action is so much cleaner and quicker.”
Upcoming Challenges
The success of this agile approach will be proven in the pressure of racing when the season begins and there is a considerable amount riding on this for F1, too. Cadillac have recruited as their development driver the emerging American Colton Herta
