Just over a full year in the past at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally given the green light as the world of Formula One's newest entrant for 2026. Building the team from the ground up has required a hectic pace of work that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo moon landing. As Formula One arrives on the Vegas strip this race weekend, the team know the clock is ticking.
The Race Against Time to Australia
At the season finale of the campaign to be hosted in the America, with around a hundred days to go before they take to the track for the inaugural time in Australia at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a monumental endeavor, they are cognizant there will not be adequate time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, became part of the nascent team in March 2023 not long after it was established, when the squad were without even an official entry. He has been at its heart ever since and has a amused expression when reflecting on the journey.
“You might get five minutes looking back at what you have accomplished and think: ‘Amazing, isn’t this fantastic what we have built in less than three years,’” Chester states. “But then the following moment you consider: ‘Well, we still have quite a lot to do.’”
A Unique Opportunity
Nick Chester had success at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s championship-winning seasons of 2005/2006 and was in command of technical development at the then-new Mercedes electric racing team, but nothing has truly matched the challenge of introducing the all-American Cadillac marque, a manufacturer-backed entry backed by the owner, General Motors, into F1.
“Establishing an Formula One team from the ground up, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” Chester remarks. “It is like nothing else. In an well-set team you rarely get the opportunity to change cultural approach.”
With each passing day that passes focus are increasingly concentrated on the approaching moment of truth in Melbourne and expectations are being handled.
“You have to assume that any new team coming in is going to be last but simply getting on to the grid will be an feat in itself,” Lowdon commented this year and while the CTO agreed with this sentiment he thought the organization had a statement to make as well.
“The first thing we intend to prove is that we deserve to be there,” he emphasizes. “In order that we arrive and we function efficiently. We seek to prove that we’re a proper team performing the correct procedures on the circuit. When we’ve shown that our credentials are solid, then we want to show progression subsequently.”
Racing Talent and Hiring Effort
In late summer they recruited Checo Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their pilots for the 2026 season, a duo notable for their invaluable experience in performing at the front in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull and Mercedes-AMG, and Valtteri Bottas reflected the sentiment of combative optimism.
“Naturally, we’re realistic,” he said. “There’s going to be a huge amount of work to do, and it’s going to be most likely a challenging beginning, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we aren't joining to stay at the back. I am confident with this setup, with these individuals, this staff, it's entirely possible we won't be able to advance swiftly to the front and enjoy some success.”
To achieve that goal staff acquisition has been in full swing, with personnel now up to over 400 and scheduled to attain the goal of six hundred quickly. Complementing their current base at the UK base, the team are in the process of completing an headquarters at the Fishers location in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are building the facility to manufacture the power unit, set for the 2029 season – until then they will use Ferrari power units – and the aerodynamic facility in Germany. It is a complex organization, at odds with the trend in the sport for increased consolidation, and has prompted the new cultural approach to which Chester referred.
Apollo Model
“It's closely based on the Apollo program,” said Lowdon just before the British Grand Prix in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we know how difficult it is. The schedules, they’re super, super, super short. Well, it's not a space expedition, but it can seem that way.”
So they have adopted, instead of the conventional chain of command, a decentralized management akin to that of NASA's, where there were a range of project teams all focusing on different aspects of the project in a different facilities.
“In a system where you follow a protocol where an issue arises and they raise it up to their team leader, that manager consults a manager somewhere else, it travels back down, it becomes inefficient,” explains the CTO. “Therefore we enable people to handle things directly. Eliminating hierarchical consent for all decisions is far more efficient and faster.”
Upcoming Challenges
The efficacy of this agile approach will be tested in the heat of competition in 2026 and there is a significant degree on the line for F1, too. Cadillac have recruited as their test driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
