Just over a full year in the past at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally awarded the green light as the world of Formula One's latest entrant for the 2026 season. Constructing the squad from scratch has involved a hectic operating tempo that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo program. As the sport arrives on Las Vegas this race weekend, the team are aware the clock is ticking.
The Tight Timeline to Melbourne
At the last event of the season to be staged in the United States, with approximately 100 days to go before they hit the circuit for the inaugural time in Australia at the first race of 2026, the Cadillac F1 project have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a never-ending task, they are conscious there will not be sufficient time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, came aboard the newly formed operation in the spring of 2023 not long after it was created, when the team were without even an approved entry. He has been at its heart ever since and has a wry smile when reflecting on the journey.
“You can have a brief moment looking back at what you have accomplished and go: ‘Wow, how impressive what we have built in under three years,’” he notes. “And then the following moment you realize: ‘Yes, we still have quite a lot to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Task
Nick Chester enjoyed success at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s victorious seasons of 2005 and 2006 and was in command of technical development at the new Mercedes electric racing team, but nothing has been quite like the challenge of introducing 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 scratch, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” Chester remarks. “It is like nothing else. In an established team you won't have the opportunity to change team culture.”
With each day that passes focus are sharper on the approaching critical moment in Melbourne and goals are being set realistically.
“You have to assume that any new team entering the sport is going to be last but merely participating will be an feat in itself,” the team principal stated earlier this year and while the CTO shared this view he thought the organization had a statement to make as well.
“The initial objective we intend to prove is that we deserve to be there,” he says. “So we turn up and we function efficiently. We aim to demonstrate that this is a professional operation performing the correct procedures on the race track. When we prove that we’re really credible, then we will focus on progression subsequently.”
Pilot Selection and Hiring Effort
In the summer they signed Checo Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their racers for 2026, a tandem remarkable for their invaluable experience in performing at the front in two top-tier teams, Red Bull Racing and the Mercedes team, and Bottas echoed the sentiment of fighting spirit.
“Certainly, we’re realistic,” Bottas stated. “We have a massive task to do, and it’s going to be probably a difficult start, because it is F1. But we’re not there to finish last. I am confident with this setup, with these individuals, these people, there is every reason that we can't manage to get relatively quickly to the front and enjoy some success.”
To that end staff acquisition has been in top gear, with employees now up to more than 400 and intended to reach the objective of 600 members rapidly. Complementing their existing facility at Silverstone, the organization are in the midst of building an headquarters at Fishers, Indiana in Indy and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, where they are developing the center to build the 2029 engine, scheduled for the 2029 season – until then they will operate with Ferrari engines – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a intricate organization, contrary to the direction in the sport for greater centralisation, and has prompted the new cultural approach to which the CTO referred to.
NASA Model
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo program,” remarked Graeme Lowdon shortly before the British Grand Prix in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we understand how challenging it is. The schedules, are incredibly tight. Alright, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have implemented, as opposed to the usual hierarchical system, a non-hierarchical approach akin to that of the space agency's, where there were a assortment of Apollo teams all tackling different aspects of the program across a multiple sites.
“When you must follow a procedure where someone has a problem and they raise it up to their supervisor, that leader communicates with a manager somewhere else, it goes back down the chain, the process is very slow,” explains Chester. “Therefore we enable staff to really get on with it. Eliminating management approval for each action is so much cleaner and more rapid.”
What Lies Ahead
The efficacy of this nimble strategy will be tested in the intensity of Grand Prix in 2026 and there is no little amount at stake for Formula One, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their reserve driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta
