Just over a full year ago at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were at last granted the green light as the world of Formula One's most recent participant for the 2026 season. Building the team from nothing has required a hectic operating tempo that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo moon landing. As the sport converges on Las Vegas this weekend, the team are aware time is getting tight.
The Tight Timeline to Australia
At the last event of the campaign to be held in the United States, with just over 100 days to go before they hit the circuit for the first time in Australia at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a never-ending endeavor, they are conscious there will never be adequate time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, became part of the newly formed team in early 2023 not long after it was established, when the squad were without even an official entry. He has been at its center since then and enjoys a knowing grin when considering the ride.
“You can have a short period reflecting at what you’ve done and say: ‘Wow, how impressive what the team has created in under three years,’” he notes. “But then the following moment you think: ‘Well, there is still a significant amount to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Opportunity
Nick Chester achieved victories at Renault in Alonso's title-winning seasons of the mid-2000s and was in charge of engineering strategy at the recently formed Mercedes Formula E team, but nothing has been quite like the challenge of bringing the quintessentially American Cadillac name, a works entry backed by the parent company, GM, into Formula One.
“Establishing an grand prix team from the ground up, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he says. “There's nothing comparable. In an well-set team you won't have the possibility to alter organizational mindset.”
With each day that elapses focus are more focused on the impending decisive point in Australia and goals are being set realistically.
“You have to assume that any incoming team joining the grid is likely to start at the back but merely participating will be an achievement in itself,” the team principal stated earlier this year and while the CTO echoed this he thought the squad had a statement to make as well.
“The first thing we aim to demonstrate is that we belong on the grid,” he says. “So we show up and we function efficiently. We want to show that we’re a proper team doing the right things on the race track. Once we have demonstrated that we’re really credible, then we will focus on forward movement subsequently.”
Racing Talent and Team Building Effort
In August they recruited Sergio Perez and Bottas as their pilots for 2026, a pair notable for their priceless expertise in performing at the sharp end in two top-tier teams, the Red Bull team and Mercedes-AMG, and Bottas reflected the attitude of fighting spirit.
“Of course, we are pragmatic,” he said. “There’s going to be a mountain of work to do, and we expect most likely a tough opening, because this is Formula One. But our goal isn't to remain at the rear. In my view with this setup, with this group, these people, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to progress rapidly up to the pace and enjoy some success.”
To that end staff acquisition has been in overdrive, with personnel now up to over 400 and scheduled to hit the goal of 600 rapidly. Alongside their current base at the UK base, the team are in the process of finishing an main base at Fishers, Indiana in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, where they are developing the plant to produce the new engine, planned for 2029 – until then they will run power from Ferrari – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne. It is a intricate structure, different from the trend in Formula One for increased consolidation, and has led to the new cultural approach to which Nick Chester referred to.
Apollo Blueprint
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo program,” remarked Graeme Lowdon ahead of the British Grand Prix in July. “We are pragmatic, we understand how challenging it is. The deadlines, they’re super, super, super short. Alright, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have adopted, rather than the traditional management structure, a non-hierarchical approach akin to that of the space agency's, where there were a range of Apollo teams all focusing on different aspects of the program in a multiple sites.
“If you have to go through a procedure where someone has a problem and they escalate it to their manager, that leader communicates with a leader at a different location, it goes back down the chain, the process is very slow,” says Chester. “Therefore we enable staff to handle things directly. Avoiding management approval for each action is far more efficient and faster.”
The Future
The success of this flexible approach will be tested in the pressure of racing when the season begins and there is a considerable amount at stake for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their development driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta
