Approximately one year ago at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were at last given the official approval as the world of Formula One's latest entrant for the 2026 season. Constructing the organization from nothing has involved a frenetic pace of work that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo moon landing. As Formula One converges on the Vegas strip this race weekend, Cadillac are aware the clock is ticking.
The Countdown to Australia
At the final race of the campaign to be held in the US, with just over a hundred days to go before they make their debut for the first time in Australia at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a monumental challenge, they are aware there will never be enough hours in the day.
The CTO, Nick Chester, became part of the newly formed project in the spring of 2023 soon after it was formed, when the organization were without even an approved entry. He has been at its heart since then and enjoys a wry smile when thinking about the journey.
“You can have five minutes thinking back at what the team has achieved and think: ‘Incredible, isn’t this fantastic what we have built in less than three years,’” he notes. “But then the very next instant you think: ‘Yes, we still have a great deal to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Opportunity
Nick Chester achieved victories at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s victorious years of 2005 and 2006 and was in charge of technical direction at the new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but nothing has quite compared with the task of introducing the all-American Cadillac name, a factory team sponsored by the parent company, GM, into Formula One.
“Building an grand prix team from the ground up, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he says. “It is like nothing else. In an existing team you don’t get the chance to alter cultural approach.”
With each passing day that goes by thoughts are more focused on the looming moment of truth in Melbourne and expectations are being set realistically.
“It's reasonable to expect that any incoming team entering the sport is likely to start at the back but simply getting on to the grid will be an feat in itself,” Graeme Lowdon stated earlier this year and while the CTO shared this view he thought the squad had a statement to make as well.
“The first thing we aim to demonstrate is that we should be there,” Chester explains. “So that we arrive and we operate well. We want to show that we are a serious contender executing the correct procedures on the circuit. After we prove that we’re really credible, then we want to show improvement after that.”
Driver Lineup and Team Building Push
In late summer they recruited Sergio Pérez and Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a tandem remarkable for their priceless expertise in operating at the front in two top-tier teams, Red Bull Racing and the Mercedes team, and Valtteri Bottas reflected the attitude of fighting spirit.
“Certainly, we’re realistic,” Bottas stated. “There’s going to be a huge amount of work to do, and we expect almost certainly a difficult start, because it is F1. But we aren't joining to finish last. I believe with this structure, with this team, these personnel, there’s no reason why we can't manage to progress rapidly to a competitive level and enjoy some success.”
To achieve that goal hiring has been in full swing, with staff now up to in excess of 400 and planned to hit the goal of 600 rapidly. Alongside their present headquarters at the Silverstone circuit, the squad are in the process of completing an HQ at the Fishers location in Indianapolis and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are developing the center to build the power unit, scheduled for the 2029 season – for now they will operate with power from Ferrari – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne, Germany. It is a intricate structure, contrary to the trend in Formula One for increased consolidation, and has led to the innovative team culture to which Chester alluded.
Apollo Model
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo program,” said the team principal shortly before the Silverstone race in July. “We’re realistic, we recognize how challenging it is. The schedules, are extremely compressed. Well, it's not a space expedition, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have embraced, as opposed to the usual hierarchical system, a decentralized management comparable to that of Nasa’s, where there were a range of specialist groups all tackling various components of the mission across a different facilities.
“In a system where you follow a protocol where someone has a problem and they escalate it to their supervisor, that manager communicates with a leader in another department, it goes back down the chain, it becomes inefficient,” explains the CTO. “We give authority to people to take charge. Moving away from management approval for all decisions is far more efficient and faster.”
Upcoming Challenges
The effectiveness of this flexible strategy 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 reserve driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta
