A little more than one year previously at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally granted the go-ahead as the world of Formula One's most recent participant for the 2026 season. Constructing the team from nothing has involved a intense work rate that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo moon landing. As F1 descends on Vegas this weekend, the team understand time is getting tight.
The Tight Timeline to Melbourne
At the last event of the championship to be held in the US, with around 100 days to go before they make their debut for the maiden outing in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a monumental task, they are cognizant there will not be enough hours in the day.
The technical director, Nick Chester, became part of the embryonic operation in March 2023 not long after it was formed, when the squad were without even an approved entry. He has been at its center from that point and has a knowing grin when considering the experience.
“There might be five minutes looking back at what the team has achieved and think: ‘Incredible, what an achievement what we have built in less than three years,’” he notes. “But then the next minute you consider: ‘Yes, we’ve still got a great deal to do.’”
A Unique Challenge
Chester achieved victories at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s title-winning seasons of 2005/2006 and was in control of technical direction at the recently formed Mercedes Formula E team, but no other project has been quite like the challenge of introducing the quintessentially American Cadillac marque, a factory team supported by the parent company, General Motors Corporation, into F1.
“Building an Formula One team from scratch, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” Chester remarks. “It's unparalleled. In an well-set team you won't have the chance to change organizational mindset.”
With every day that passes focus are increasingly concentrated on the approaching moment of truth in Australia and expectations are being set realistically.
“One must presume that any new team entering the sport is likely to start at the back but merely participating will be an accomplishment in itself,” the team principal commented this year and while Nick Chester agreed with this sentiment he thought 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. “So that we show up and we function efficiently. We want to show that we are a serious contender executing the proper actions on the circuit. Once we prove that our credentials are solid, then we will focus on improvement subsequently.”
Racing Talent and Recruitment Drive
In August they signed Sergio Pérez and Valtteri as their drivers for 2026, a pair remarkable for their priceless expertise in operating at the front in two championship-winning squads, the Red Bull team and Mercedes, and Valtteri Bottas expressed the mood of determined optimism.
“Naturally, we are pragmatic,” he said. “We face a huge amount of work to do, and it will likely be probably a difficult start, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we’re not there to finish last. I am confident with this setup, with these individuals, these people, it's entirely possible we shouldn’t be able to advance swiftly to the front and achieve good results.”
To achieve that goal staff acquisition has been in full swing, with staff now at more than 400 and intended to attain the goal of 600 members swiftly. In addition to their existing facility at the UK base, the team are in the midst of building an main base at Fishers, Indiana in Indy and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, where they are building the facility to build the new engine, scheduled for the 2029 season – for now they will use Ferrari engines – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne, Germany. It is a intricate organization, contrary to the movement in Formula One for more centralization, and has inspired the innovative team culture to which Nick Chester referred to.
Apollo Blueprint
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo program,” remarked Lowdon ahead of the British Grand Prix in July. “We’re realistic, we know how difficult it is. The schedules, are incredibly tight. Well, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it can seem that way.”
So they have adopted, as opposed to the usual hierarchical system, a non-hierarchical approach akin to that of NASA's, where there were a range of Apollo teams all tackling various components of the project at a variety of locations.
“If you have to go through a process where an issue arises and they report it to their supervisor, that leader consults a manager at a different location, it goes back down the chain, it’s super slow,” says Chester. “So we empower people to take charge. Moving away from hierarchical consent for everything is far more efficient and more rapid.”
The Future
The success of this nimble strategy will be evaluated in the pressure of racing next season and there is no little amount on the line for F1, too. Cadillac have taken on as their reserve driver the young Californian Colton Herta
