Just over twelve months in the past at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were at last granted the green light as the world of Formula One's newest entrant for 2026. Building the squad from scratch has required a hectic work rate that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo moon landing. As the sport descends on the Vegas strip this weekend, the team are aware the deadline is approaching.
The Tight Timeline to Melbourne
At the season finale of the campaign to be staged in the US, with approximately three months to go before they take to the track for the maiden outing in Australia at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a never-ending challenge, they are cognizant there will never be adequate time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, came aboard the embryonic operation in early 2023 not long after it was created, when the squad were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its center ever since and gets a wry smile when reflecting on the experience.
“There might be a brief moment thinking back at what you’ve done and go: ‘Wow, how impressive what we’ve done in a short three-year period,’” he notes. “But then the next minute you realize: ‘Yeah, we still have a great deal to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Task
The CTO achieved victories at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s victorious campaigns of the mid-2000s and was in charge of technical direction at the then-new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no previous experience has truly matched the challenge of launching the quintessentially American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry sponsored by the parent company, GM, into Formula One.
“Establishing an grand prix team from the ground up, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he says. “There's nothing comparable. In an established team you don’t get the opportunity to change organizational mindset.”
With each passing day that passes minds are sharper on the impending critical moment in Australia and targets are being managed.
“It's reasonable to expect that a brand-new squad coming in is going to be last but simply getting on to the grid will be an accomplishment in itself,” the team principal stated this year and while Nick Chester shared this view he believed 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 we turn up and we function efficiently. We aim to demonstrate that we are a serious contender performing the correct procedures on the track. After we prove that we’re really credible, then we will focus on progression from there on.”
Driver Lineup and Hiring Effort
In August they signed Checo Pérez and Bottas as their racers for 2026, a duo remarkable for their vast knowledge in operating at the front in two top-tier teams, Red Bull and the Mercedes team, and Valtteri Bottas reflected the attitude of determined optimism.
“Certainly, we are pragmatic,” he said. “We face a huge amount of work to do, and it’s going to be probably a tough opening, because this is Formula One. But we’re not there to stay at the back. I am confident with this setup, with this group, this staff, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to get relatively quickly to a competitive level and achieve good results.”
To that end recruitment has been in top gear, with employees now reaching more than 400 and scheduled to hit the goal of 600 rapidly. In addition to their current base at the Silverstone circuit, the squad are in the midst of completing an HQ at Fishers, Indiana in Indianapolis and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are developing the facility to build the power unit, planned for 2029 – in the meantime they will use Ferrari power units – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a sophisticated organisation, different from the movement in the sport for increased consolidation, and has inspired the innovative team culture to which Nick Chester referred.
Apollo Blueprint
“It’s highly modelled on the NASA moon mission,” remarked the team principal shortly before the British Grand Prix in the summer. “We’re realistic, we understand how tough it is. The schedules, they’re super, super, super short. Well, it's not a space expedition, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have implemented, rather than the traditional management structure, a decentralized management comparable to that of Nasa’s, where there were a assortment of specialist groups all focusing on various components of the project in a variety of locations.
“In a system where you follow a protocol where someone has a problem and they raise it up to their supervisor, that supervisor consults a leader in another department, it is relayed back, the process is very slow,” says Nick Chester. “So we empower team members to take charge. Avoiding hierarchical consent for all decisions is much smoother and quicker.”
Upcoming Challenges
The success of this flexible methodology will be tested in the heat of competition in 2026 and there is a significant degree on the line for the sport, too. Cadillac have recruited as their development driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta
