Just over one year previously at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally given the green light as Formula One’s most recent participant for the 2026 season. Constructing the squad from scratch has required a frenetic pace of work that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo program. As Formula One converges on Las Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac are aware the deadline is approaching.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the final race of the season to be hosted in the United States, with around a hundred days to go before they take to the track for the inaugural time in Melbourne at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a sisyphean task, they are cognizant there will never be sufficient time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, became part of the embryonic operation in March 2023 not long after it was formed, when the organization were without even an approved entry. He has been at its center since then and has a wry smile when thinking about the ride.
“There might be a short period looking back at what you have accomplished and go: ‘Amazing, how impressive what we’ve done in less than three years,’” Chester states. “Then the next minute you realize: ‘Well, we still have a great deal to do.’”
A Unique Opportunity
The CTO achieved victories at the Renault team in the driver Fernando Alonso's title-winning years of 2005 and 2006 and was in command of technical development at the recently formed Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no previous experience has been quite like the challenge of introducing the all-American Cadillac name, a works entry supported by the corporate entity, General Motors, into Formula One.
“Establishing an Formula One team from the ground up, 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 chance to transform team culture.”
With each day that passes focus are increasingly concentrated on the approaching moment of truth in Melbourne and goals are being managed.
“You have to assume that any new team joining the grid is likely to start at the back but merely participating will be an feat in itself,” Graeme Lowdon stated earlier this year and while Chester agreed with this sentiment he felt the team had a statement to make as well.
“Our primary goal we want to show is that we should be there,” he says. “In order that we arrive and we function efficiently. We seek to prove that we’re a proper team performing the correct procedures on the circuit. Once we have demonstrated that our credentials are solid, then we aim to demonstrate forward movement subsequently.”
Pilot Selection and Recruitment Drive
In August they recruited Sergio Pérez and Valtteri as their drivers for 2026, a tandem remarkable for their priceless expertise in performing at the leading positions in two championship-winning squads, the Red Bull team and Mercedes, and Valtteri Bottas echoed the attitude of fighting spirit.
“Of course, we have a realistic outlook,” Bottas stated. “We face a huge amount of work to do, and we expect almost certainly a challenging beginning, because it is F1. But we aren't joining to stay at the back. I believe with this setup, with this group, these personnel, it's entirely possible we can't manage to progress rapidly to the front and taste victory.”
To realize that ambition recruitment has been in full swing, with staff now at over 400 and planned to attain the goal of 600 members rapidly. Alongside their present headquarters at the Silverstone circuit, the squad are in the midst of finishing an headquarters at Fishers, Indiana in Indianapolis and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, where they are developing the plant to manufacture the new engine, scheduled for the 2029 season – for now they will run Ferrari engines – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne, Germany. It is a sophisticated organisation, contrary to the direction in F1 for more centralization, and has prompted the innovative team culture to which the CTO referred to.
Apollo Blueprint
“We've drawn heavily from the NASA moon mission,” said Lowdon just before the Silverstone race in mid-season. “We are pragmatic, we recognize how difficult it is. The deadlines, are extremely compressed. Alright, it's not a space expedition, but it can seem that way.”
So they have adopted, rather than the traditional management structure, a non-hierarchical approach similar to that of NASA's, where there were a variety of project teams all tackling various components of the program at a multiple sites.
“In a system where you follow a procedure where someone has a problem and they raise it up to their manager, that supervisor communicates with a manager in another department, it travels back down, it’s super slow,” explains the CTO. “So we empower people to handle things directly. Moving away from management approval for everything is far more efficient and faster.”
What Lies Ahead
The effectiveness of this nimble approach will be evaluated in the intensity of Grand Prix when the season begins and there is a considerable amount on the line for Formula One, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their test driver the emerging American Colton Herta
