Approximately a full year in the past at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were at last granted the go-ahead as the world of Formula One's most recent entrant for the 2026 season. Building the squad from the ground up has entailed a frenetic operating tempo that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo moon landing. As F1 converges on Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac are aware time is getting tight.
The Race Against Time to Australia
At the last event of the championship to be hosted in the America, with just over 100 days to go before they hit the circuit for the maiden outing in Australia at the first race of 2026, the Cadillac F1 project have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a never-ending task, they are conscious there will not be enough hours in the day.
The CTO, Nick Chester, became part of the embryonic project in the spring of 2023 not long after it was created, when the organization were without even an official entry. He has been at its heart since then and enjoys a knowing grin when reflecting on the journey.
“There might be a short period looking back at what you have accomplished and think: ‘Wow, what an achievement what we have built in less than three years,’” he says. “Then the very next instant you consider: ‘Yeah, we’ve still got a significant amount to do.’”
An Unprecedented Challenge
Chester had success at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s title-winning campaigns of the mid-2000s and was in control of technical development at the recently formed Mercedes electric racing team, but no other project has quite compared with the mission of introducing the quintessentially American Cadillac brand, a factory team backed by the owner, GM, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Establishing an Formula One team from nothing, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he observes. “There's nothing comparable. In an well-set team you don’t get the chance to transform cultural approach.”
With each passing day that goes by focus are increasingly concentrated on the impending decisive point in Australia and goals are being managed.
“It's reasonable to expect that any incoming team joining the grid is probably going to finish last but just making it to the starting line will be an feat in itself,” Graeme Lowdon commented earlier this year and while Nick Chester agreed with this sentiment he thought the squad had a statement to make as well.
“Our primary goal we want to show is that we deserve to be there,” he says. “In order that we turn up and we perform competently. We want to show that we’re a proper team executing the proper actions on the track. Once we’ve shown that we are a legitimate team, then we want to show progression subsequently.”
Pilot Selection and Recruitment Push
In the summer they contracted Checo Pérez and Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a pair distinguished for their priceless expertise in operating at the front in two top-tier teams, the Red Bull team and the Mercedes team, and the Finnish driver reflected the attitude of fighting spirit.
“Of course, we are pragmatic,” he said. “There’s going to be a massive task to do, and it will likely be probably a difficult start, because it is F1. But our goal isn't to remain at the rear. I am confident with this setup, with this group, these personnel, there’s no reason why we won't be able to advance swiftly to a competitive level and enjoy some success.”
To realize that ambition staff acquisition has been in top gear, with personnel now reaching in excess of 400 and intended to hit the goal of 600 swiftly. In addition to their present headquarters at the Silverstone circuit, the team are in the midst of building an HQ at Fishers, Indiana in Indianapolis and there is the GM works in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are building the plant to build the power unit, set for 2029 – for now they will operate with Ferrari engines – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne, Germany. It is a intricate structure, contrary to the movement in F1 for more centralization, and has prompted the fresh organizational mindset to which the CTO referred.
Apollo Blueprint
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo program,” stated Graeme Lowdon shortly before the British GP in the summer. “We have a clear-eyed view, we understand how tough it is. The schedules, are incredibly tight. OK, it's not a space expedition, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have embraced, rather than the usual hierarchical system, a flat management structure akin to that of the space agency's, where there were a range of Apollo teams all tackling various components of the program at a multiple sites.
“In a system where you follow a process where an issue arises and they report it to their manager, that supervisor consults a supervisor in another department, it travels back down, the process is very slow,” explains the CTO. “We give authority to people to handle things directly. Avoiding managerial sign-off for each action is so much cleaner and faster.”
Upcoming Challenges
The efficacy of this flexible strategy will be proven in the pressure of racing in 2026 and there is a considerable amount at stake for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their test driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
