Just over twelve months previously at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately awarded the go-ahead as Formula One’s newest entrant for 2026. Building the team from the ground up has entailed a hectic operating tempo that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo program. As the sport arrives on Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac are aware the clock is ticking.
The Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the last event of the campaign to be held in the US, with around three months to go before they take to the track for the inaugural time in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a monumental task, they are aware there will never be enough hours in the day.
The technical director, Nick Chester, became part of the nascent project in the spring of 2023 soon after it was formed, when the organization were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its center since then and enjoys a knowing grin when considering the journey.
“There might be a brief moment looking back at what you have accomplished and think: ‘Wow, isn’t this fantastic what the team has created in less than three years,’” he notes. “And then the following moment you think: ‘Well, there is still a significant amount to do.’”
An Unprecedented Challenge
Nick Chester achieved victories at Renault in the driver Fernando Alonso's championship-winning years of 2005/2006 and was in charge of technical development at the recently formed Mercedes electric racing team, but no other project has been quite like the challenge of launching the iconic American Cadillac marque, a factory team backed by the corporate entity, General Motors, into F1.
“Creating an Formula One team from nothing, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he observes. “It is like nothing else. In an established team you won't have the opportunity to change cultural approach.”
With each passing day that passes thoughts are more focused on the approaching critical moment in Melbourne and targets are being managed.
“One must presume that a brand-new squad coming in is going to be last but simply getting on to the grid will be an achievement in itself,” Graeme Lowdon commented earlier this year and while Nick Chester agreed with this sentiment he thought the organization had a statement to make as well.
“The initial objective we aim to demonstrate is that we should be there,” he emphasizes. “So we turn up and we perform competently. We want to show that we are a serious contender doing the correct procedures on the race track. Once we prove that we’re really credible, then we will focus on progression after that.”
Racing Talent and Hiring Effort
In the summer they signed Checo Pérez and Bottas as their pilots for the 2026 season, a tandem notable for their invaluable experience in competing at the sharp end in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes-AMG, and Bottas expressed the sentiment of combative optimism.
“Naturally, we are pragmatic,” he commented. “We face a huge amount of work to do, and it will likely be probably a tough opening, because this is Formula One. But we aren't joining to remain at the rear. In my view with this structure, with this team, these personnel, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to progress rapidly to the front and achieve good results.”
To achieve that goal recruitment has been in overdrive, with employees now up to over 400 and planned to attain the goal of 600 rapidly. In addition to their present headquarters at the Silverstone circuit, the team are in the process of finishing an HQ at the Fishers location in Indianapolis and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, where they are developing the center to produce the new engine, set for 2029 – until then they will operate with power from Ferrari – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Germany. It is a sophisticated organisation, at odds with the direction in the sport for greater centralisation, and has prompted the innovative team culture to which the CTO alluded.
NASA Inspiration
“We've drawn heavily from the NASA moon mission,” remarked Lowdon ahead of the Silverstone race in mid-season. “We’re realistic, we understand how difficult it is. The timelines, they’re super, super, super short. OK, it's not a space expedition, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have embraced, rather than the usual hierarchical system, a flat management structure similar to that of the space agency's, where there were a assortment of Apollo teams all focusing on different aspects of the program at a different facilities.
“When you must follow a process where a challenge emerges and they escalate it to their supervisor, that supervisor talks to a supervisor in another department, it travels back down, the process is very slow,” explains Nick Chester. “Therefore we enable staff to take charge. Moving away from management approval for everything is much smoother and quicker.”
The Future
The effectiveness of this agile approach will be tested in the pressure of racing in 2026 and there is no little amount on the line for F1, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their development driver the young American Colton Herta
