A little more than one year previously at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally granted the green light as F1's latest entrant for the 2026 season. Building the squad from nothing has entailed a intense work rate that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo program. As Formula One descends on the Vegas strip this weekend, Cadillac are aware time is getting tight.
The Countdown to Australia
At the last event of the season to be staged in the United States, with just over three months to go before they hit the circuit 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 endeavor, they are conscious there will never be enough hours in the day.
The CTO, Nick Chester, became part of the nascent team in March 2023 soon after it was formed, when the squad were without even an approved entry. He has been at its center since then and enjoys a wry smile when considering the ride.
“There might be a short period reflecting at what the team has achieved and go: ‘Incredible, what an achievement what we’ve done in under three years,’” Chester states. “And then the next minute you realize: ‘Yeah, we still have quite a lot to do.’”
A Unique Challenge
The CTO enjoyed success at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s championship-winning seasons of the mid-2000s and was in control of engineering strategy at the recently formed Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but nothing has quite compared with the task of launching the iconic American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry backed by the corporate entity, GM, into Formula One.
“Establishing an Formula One team from scratch, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he says. “It's unparalleled. In an established team you rarely get the possibility to alter cultural approach.”
With each day that passes thoughts are sharper on the impending critical moment in the Australian GP and goals are being managed.
“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,” Graeme Lowdon stated recently and while Chester shared this view he thought the squad had a reputation to build as well.
“Our primary goal we intend to prove is that we belong on the grid,” he says. “So we arrive and we operate well. We aim to demonstrate that we are a serious contender executing the proper actions on the race track. Once we prove that our credentials are solid, then we will focus on improvement after that.”
Driver Lineup and Team Building Effort
In the summer they signed Sergio Pérez and Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a pair notable for their vast knowledge in operating at the leading positions in two championship-winning squads, the Red Bull team and Mercedes, and Valtteri Bottas reflected the attitude of combative optimism.
“Naturally, we are pragmatic,” he commented. “There’s going to be a mountain of work to do, and it’s going to be probably a tough opening, because this is Formula One. But we’re not there to remain at the rear. I am confident given this organization, with this team, this staff, there is every reason that we shouldn’t be able to get relatively quickly to a competitive level and taste victory.”
To achieve that goal recruitment has been in full swing, with personnel now up to over 400 and intended to hit the objective of 600 members swiftly. Complementing their current base at Silverstone, the organization are in the midst of completing an headquarters at Fishers in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are building the facility to manufacture the new engine, scheduled for 2029 – in the meantime they will use power from Ferrari – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a intricate organization, contrary to the direction in F1 for increased consolidation, and has inspired the new cultural approach to which Nick Chester referred to.
Space Mission Model
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo project,” said the team principal just before the Silverstone race in mid-season. “We have a clear-eyed view, we know how challenging it is. The timelines, they’re super, super, super short. Alright, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have embraced, as opposed to the traditional management structure, a decentralized management akin to that of Nasa’s, where there were a assortment of project teams all focusing on different aspects of the mission at a multiple sites.
“When you must follow a process where an issue arises and they escalate it to their supervisor, that manager talks to a supervisor in another department, it goes back down the chain, it’s super slow,” explains Nick Chester. “Therefore we enable team members to take charge. Moving away from managerial sign-off for each action is much smoother and quicker.”
The Future
The efficacy of this nimble approach will be evaluated in the heat of competition next season and there is a significant degree riding on this for F1, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their reserve driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta
