A little more than one year in the past at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately given the official approval as Formula One’s most recent entry for 2026. Constructing the squad from the ground up has involved a intense operating tempo that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo program. As Formula One converges on Las Vegas this race weekend, the team know time is getting tight.
The Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the last event of the campaign to be held in the America, with around 100 days to go before they take to the track for the maiden outing in Australia at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a monumental endeavor, they are aware there will not be adequate time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, came aboard the nascent operation in early 2023 soon after it was formed, when the organization were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its core from that point and has a wry smile when thinking about the experience.
“You can have a brief moment reflecting at what you’ve done and think: ‘Amazing, how impressive what we’ve done in less than three years,’” Chester states. “And then the very next instant you think: ‘Yes, we still have quite a lot to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Opportunity
Nick Chester achieved victories at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s victorious seasons of 2005/2006 and was in command of technical direction at the then-new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no previous experience has truly matched the task of bringing the quintessentially American Cadillac brand, a manufacturer-backed entry sponsored by the corporate entity, General Motors Corporation, into F1.
“Building an Formula One team from nothing, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” Chester remarks. “It is like nothing else. In an existing team you rarely get the opportunity to change cultural approach.”
With every day that passes thoughts are sharper on the approaching decisive point in Melbourne and targets are being handled.
“One must presume that a brand-new squad coming in is going to be last but merely participating will be an feat in itself,” Lowdon commented this year and while the CTO echoed this he thought the squad had a reputation to build as well.
“Our primary goal we want to show is that we deserve to be there,” he says. “So we arrive and we function efficiently. We seek to prove that this is a professional operation doing the correct procedures on the circuit. Once we prove that we are a legitimate team, then we aim to demonstrate progression subsequently.”
Racing Talent and Team Building Drive
In August they recruited Sergio Pérez and Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a duo distinguished for their invaluable experience in operating at the leading positions in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull and Mercedes, and Valtteri Bottas expressed the sentiment of determined optimism.
“Of course, we have a realistic outlook,” he commented. “We face a mountain of work to do, and it’s going to be probably a challenging beginning, because it's the top level of motorsport. But our goal isn't to finish last. In my view with this setup, with this team, this staff, there is every reason that we won't be able to advance swiftly up to the pace and enjoy some success.”
To achieve that goal staff acquisition has been in top gear, with employees now reaching more than 400 and planned to reach the target of six hundred quickly. Alongside their current base at the Silverstone circuit, the team are in the phase of finishing an main base at the Fishers location in Indianapolis and there is the GM plant in North Carolina, where they are constructing the plant to build the 2029 engine, planned for 2029 – until then they will run Ferrari power units – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a sophisticated organisation, contrary to the movement in the sport for increased consolidation, and has prompted the fresh organizational mindset to which Nick Chester alluded.
Apollo Inspiration
“We've drawn heavily from the NASA moon mission,” remarked Graeme Lowdon ahead of the Silverstone race in the summer. “We’re realistic, we know how difficult it is. The schedules, they’re super, super, super short. Alright, 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 similar to that of NASA's, where there were a assortment of project teams all working on different aspects of the program across a variety of locations.
“If you have to go through a protocol where someone has a problem and they escalate it to their team leader, that leader communicates with a manager in another department, it is relayed back, it’s super slow,” says Chester. “We give authority to team members to really get on with it. Avoiding management approval for each action is far more efficient and faster.”
The Future
The success of this nimble approach will be proven in the pressure of racing next season and there is a considerable amount riding on this for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their test driver the young Californian Colton Herta
