Approximately a full year ago at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally given the green light as the world of Formula One's most recent participant for 2026. Constructing the squad from scratch has required a hectic operating tempo that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo moon landing. As the sport converges on the Vegas strip this weekend, the team know time is getting tight.
The Tight Timeline to Australia
At the last event of the campaign to be hosted in the US, with just over a hundred days to go before they hit the circuit for the inaugural time in Australia at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a monumental challenge, they are cognizant there will not be enough hours in the day.
The CTO, Nick Chester, joined the embryonic operation in early 2023 not long after it was established, when the squad were without even an official entry. He has been at its core since then and gets a wry smile when thinking about the ride.
“You can have a brief moment reflecting at what you have accomplished and think: ‘Amazing, what an achievement what we’ve done in less than three years,’” he says. “Then the next minute you realize: ‘Well, we still have quite a lot to do.’”
An Unprecedented Opportunity
Chester achieved victories at the Renault team in the driver Fernando Alonso's victorious campaigns of 2005/2006 and was in command of technical direction at the new Mercedes Formula E team, but no other project has quite compared with the mission of launching the iconic American Cadillac marque, a manufacturer-backed entry sponsored by the parent company, General Motors, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Establishing an grand prix team from nothing, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he says. “It is like nothing else. In an well-set team you won't have the opportunity to transform team culture.”
With each day that passes thoughts are sharper on the looming critical moment in Melbourne and goals are being managed.
“You have to assume that any new team joining the grid is going to be last but simply getting on to the grid will be an feat in itself,” Graeme Lowdon stated earlier this year and while Nick Chester agreed with this sentiment he believed the squad had a point to prove as well.
“Our primary goal we want to show is that we belong on the grid,” he emphasizes. “So we turn up and we operate well. We aim to demonstrate that we are a serious contender performing the proper actions on the circuit. When we prove that our credentials are solid, then we want to show progression from there on.”
Racing Talent and Team Building Effort
In the summer they contracted Checo Pérez and Valtteri as their pilots for the 2026 season, a pair remarkable for their vast knowledge in operating at the sharp end in two top-tier teams, the Red Bull team and Mercedes-AMG, and Bottas reflected the sentiment of fighting spirit.
“Certainly, we’re realistic,” he commented. “We have a mountain of work to do, and it’s going to be probably a tough opening, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we’re not there to stay at the back. I believe given this organization, with these individuals, this staff, there’s no reason why we can't manage to advance swiftly to the front and enjoy some success.”
To realize that ambition recruitment has been in full swing, with employees now reaching in excess of 400 and planned to reach the objective of 600 rapidly. Alongside their present headquarters at Silverstone, the organization are in the phase of finishing an headquarters at Fishers, Indiana in Indy and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, where they are constructing the plant to produce the 2029 engine, scheduled for the 2029 season – in the meantime they will use Ferrari power units – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a intricate organization, contrary to the direction in Formula One for increased consolidation, and has inspired the new cultural approach to which the CTO referred to.
NASA Inspiration
“It’s highly modelled on the NASA moon mission,” stated Graeme Lowdon ahead of the British GP in mid-season. “We are pragmatic, we recognize how difficult it is. The deadlines, they’re super, super, super short. OK, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have adopted, instead of the usual hierarchical system, a flat management structure comparable to that of NASA's, where there were a variety of Apollo teams all focusing on distinct elements of the project in a multiple sites.
“When you must follow a protocol where a challenge emerges and they escalate it to their manager, that supervisor talks to a leader in another department, it is relayed back, the process is very slow,” explains the CTO. “We give authority to people to take charge. Moving away from managerial sign-off for everything is much smoother and quicker.”
Upcoming Challenges
The efficacy of this nimble approach will be tested in the pressure of racing in 2026 and there is a considerable amount on the line for F1, too. Cadillac have taken on as their development driver the emerging American Colton Herta
