Approximately twelve months ago at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately given the green light as the world of Formula One's newest entrant for the 2026 season. Constructing the squad from nothing has required a hectic work rate that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the NASA lunar mission. As F1 descends on Las Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac know the clock is ticking.
The Tight Timeline to Australia
At the last event of the season to be staged in the US, with approximately three months to go before they hit the circuit for the inaugural time in Australia at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a sisyphean task, they are conscious there will never be enough hours in the day.
The CTO, Nick Chester, joined the nascent project in early 2023 soon after it was created, when the organization were without even an approved entry. He has been at its core from that point and enjoys a wry smile when considering the experience.
“You can have five minutes reflecting at what you have accomplished and think: ‘Wow, what an achievement what we’ve done in under three years,’” he says. “And then the following moment you think: ‘Yeah, there is still a significant amount to do.’”
An Unprecedented Task
Nick Chester achieved victories at the Renault team in Alonso's title-winning years of 2005 and 2006 and was in charge of technical development at the new Mercedes Formula E team, but nothing has been quite like the challenge of bringing the all-American Cadillac brand, a manufacturer-backed entry backed by the owner, GM, into Formula One.
“Creating an Formula One team from scratch, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he says. “There's nothing comparable. In an well-set team you don’t get the chance to change organizational mindset.”
With each passing day that goes by minds are sharper on the approaching critical moment in the Australian GP and expectations are being handled.
“One must presume that any new team coming in is likely to start at the back but merely participating will be an feat in itself,” Graeme Lowdon stated recently and while Chester shared this view he thought the squad had a point to prove as well.
“The initial objective we intend to prove is that we belong on the grid,” he says. “So we show up and we operate well. We seek to prove that we are a serious contender performing the correct procedures on the circuit. When we prove that we are a legitimate team, then we will focus on forward movement subsequently.”
Driver Lineup and Hiring Push
In late summer they signed Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a duo notable for their vast knowledge in performing at the leading positions in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull and the Mercedes team, and the Finnish driver expressed the mood of determined optimism.
“Certainly, we are pragmatic,” he commented. “There’s going to be a mountain of work to do, and we expect probably a difficult start, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we aren't joining to stay at the back. I believe with this setup, with this team, these people, there’s no reason why we won't be able to get relatively quickly up to the pace and enjoy some success.”
To realize that ambition recruitment has been in full swing, with personnel now up to in excess of 400 and intended to attain the objective of 600 swiftly. Complementing their existing facility at Silverstone, the organization are in the midst of building an HQ at Fishers in Indianapolis and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are developing the facility to build the power unit, scheduled for 2029 – in the meantime they will run power from Ferrari – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a intricate organization, contrary to the direction in Formula One for increased consolidation, and has prompted the innovative team culture to which Chester alluded.
Apollo Model
“It’s highly modelled on the NASA moon mission,” said the team principal just before the British GP in the summer. “We’re realistic, we know how difficult it is. The deadlines, are incredibly tight. Alright, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have adopted, as opposed to the traditional management structure, a non-hierarchical approach similar to that of the space agency's, where there were a assortment of Apollo teams all tackling various components of the program at a different facilities.
“In a system where you follow a procedure where someone has a problem and they report it to their team leader, that supervisor consults a manager at a different location, it travels back down, it becomes inefficient,” notes Nick Chester. “Therefore we enable staff to handle things directly. Avoiding managerial sign-off for each action is so much cleaner and quicker.”
Upcoming Challenges
The effectiveness of this nimble approach will be tested in the intensity of Grand Prix when the season begins and there is a significant degree riding on this for Formula One, too. Cadillac have signed as their development driver the young American Colton Herta
