Approximately a full year previously at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally awarded the go-ahead as the world of Formula One's most recent entrant for 2026. Building the squad from the ground up has entailed a hectic pace of work that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo program. As F1 arrives on Vegas this weekend, the team are aware time is getting tight.
The Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the last event of the championship to be hosted in the United States, with around a hundred days to go before they make their debut for the first time in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a never-ending task, they are cognizant there will never be enough hours in the day.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, became part of the newly formed operation in early 2023 soon after it was created, when the team were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its heart ever since and gets a knowing grin when thinking about the experience.
“You can have five minutes looking back at what the team has achieved and say: ‘Amazing, isn’t this fantastic what we have built in a short three-year period,’” he notes. “But then the following moment you consider: ‘Well, we still have a significant amount to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Challenge
Nick Chester achieved victories at the Renault team in the driver Fernando Alonso's championship-winning campaigns of 2005/2006 and was in charge of technical development at the new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but nothing has been quite like the task of introducing the all-American Cadillac brand, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the owner, General Motors Corporation, into F1.
“Establishing an grand prix team from nothing, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he observes. “There's nothing comparable. In an well-set team you won't have the possibility to alter team culture.”
With each day that elapses focus are more focused on the impending critical moment in the Australian GP and goals are being set realistically.
“You have to assume that any new team joining the grid is going to be last but just making it to the starting line will be an feat in itself,” the team principal commented recently and while the CTO shared this view he thought the team had a reputation to build as well.
“The initial objective we intend to prove is that we belong on the grid,” Chester explains. “So that we arrive and we operate well. We seek to prove that we’re a proper team doing the right things on the race track. After we’ve shown that our credentials are solid, then we aim to demonstrate progression subsequently.”
Driver Lineup and Team Building Drive
In late summer they contracted Sergio Perez and Bottas as their racers for 2026, a duo notable for their invaluable experience in competing at the sharp end in two top-tier teams, the Red Bull team and Mercedes, and Valtteri Bottas echoed the attitude of combative optimism.
“Of course, we’re realistic,” he commented. “We face a massive task to do, and it will likely be almost certainly a tough opening, because this is Formula One. But we aren't joining to remain at the rear. I believe given this organization, with this team, this staff, there is every reason that we won't be able to get relatively quickly to the front and enjoy some success.”
To realize that ambition hiring has been in full swing, with employees now up to over 400 and intended to hit the objective of 600 swiftly. Complementing their present headquarters at the UK base, the squad are in the phase of building an headquarters at the Fishers location in Indy and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, where they are constructing the center to build the power unit, set for 2029 – in the meantime they will operate with Ferrari engines – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Germany. It is a sophisticated structure, at odds with the movement in Formula One for increased consolidation, and has inspired the fresh organizational mindset to which Chester referred to.
Space Mission Inspiration
“It's closely based on the Apollo program,” stated Graeme Lowdon ahead of the British GP in mid-season. “We’re realistic, we recognize how challenging it is. The schedules, they’re super, super, super short. Well, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it can seem that way.”
So they have adopted, rather than the traditional management structure, a flat management structure akin to that of the space agency's, where there were a range of Apollo teams all focusing on distinct elements of the project at a variety of locations.
“When you must follow a procedure where someone has a problem and they report it to their supervisor, that manager talks to a supervisor somewhere else, 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 everything is so much cleaner and quicker.”
Upcoming Challenges
The efficacy of this nimble methodology will be evaluated in the intensity of Grand Prix in 2026 and there is a significant degree at stake for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their test driver the emerging American Colton Herta
