A little more than one year previously at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally given the official approval as the world of Formula One's latest entrant for the 2026 season. Building the organization from nothing has involved a frenetic pace of work that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo program. As Formula One converges on the Vegas strip this weekend, the team know time is getting tight.
The Tight Timeline to Melbourne
At the last event of the championship to be staged in the US, with approximately three months to go before they take to the track 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 sisyphean challenge, they are aware there will never be adequate time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, came aboard the newly formed operation in the spring of 2023 shortly after it was created, when the team were without even an official entry. He has been at its heart since then and has a knowing grin when considering the ride.
“You can have a brief moment looking back at what you have accomplished and say: ‘Incredible, how impressive what the team has created in less than three years,’” he says. “Then the following moment you think: ‘Well, there is still quite a lot to do.’”
A Unique Challenge
Nick Chester enjoyed success at the Renault team in the driver Fernando Alonso's title-winning campaigns of 2005/2006 and was in control of technical direction at the new Mercedes Formula E team, but no previous experience has truly matched the challenge of bringing the all-American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry sponsored by the parent company, General Motors, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Building an F1 team from the ground up, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he says. “It is like nothing else. In an existing team you won't have the opportunity to alter organizational mindset.”
With every day that elapses focus are increasingly concentrated on the impending moment of truth in Australia and targets are being handled.
“One must presume that a brand-new squad coming in is probably going to finish last but simply getting on to the grid will be an feat in itself,” Lowdon commented this year and while Chester agreed with this sentiment he felt the squad had a statement to make as well.
“The first thing we intend to prove is that we deserve to be there,” Chester explains. “In order that we show up and we function efficiently. We want to show that we are a serious contender performing the proper actions on the circuit. After we have demonstrated that we’re really credible, then we want to show improvement from there on.”
Driver Lineup and Recruitment Push
In August they recruited Checo Pérez and Valtteri as their pilots for the 2026 season, a duo notable for their priceless expertise in competing at the sharp end in two top-tier teams, Red Bull Racing and the Mercedes team, and Bottas echoed the mood of combative optimism.
“Of course, we’re realistic,” Bottas stated. “We face a mountain of work to do, and we expect probably a tough opening, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we’re not there to stay at the back. In my view with this structure, with this group, this staff, it's entirely possible we shouldn’t be able to advance swiftly to a competitive level and taste victory.”
To that end hiring has been in overdrive, with personnel now up to in excess of 400 and planned to attain the objective of 600 rapidly. In addition to their present headquarters at Silverstone, the team are in the midst of finishing an main base at Fishers in Indy and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are developing the center to build the power unit, planned for 2029 – for now they will operate with Ferrari engines – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a intricate structure, at odds with the direction in Formula One for more centralization, and has led to the innovative team culture to which Chester alluded.
Apollo Blueprint
“It's closely based on the Apollo project,” remarked Lowdon shortly before the British GP in mid-season. “We are pragmatic, we understand how tough it is. The deadlines, are extremely compressed. Well, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it can seem that way.”
So they have adopted, instead of the usual hierarchical system, a flat management structure comparable to that of NASA's, where there were a assortment of Apollo teams all working on different aspects of the mission at a different facilities.
“If you have to go through a protocol where a challenge emerges and they escalate it to their supervisor, that leader talks to a leader in another department, it is relayed back, the process is very slow,” explains Nick Chester. “Therefore we enable staff to really get on with it. Avoiding management approval for everything is so much cleaner and faster.”
The Future
The effectiveness of this agile strategy will be proven in the pressure of racing when the season begins and there is a significant degree on the line for Formula One, too. The Cadillac team have taken on as their reserve driver the emerging American Colton Herta
