Just over one year ago at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately awarded the go-ahead as the world of Formula One's latest entry for 2026. Establishing the organization from scratch has involved a hectic pace of work that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo moon landing. As Formula One arrives on Las Vegas this weekend, the team are aware time is getting tight.
The Tight Timeline to Melbourne
At the season finale of the season to be held in the US, with around three months to go before they hit the circuit for the inaugural time 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 sisyphean task, they are conscious there will not be sufficient time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, became part of the nascent team in March 2023 not long after it was established, when the squad were without even an approved entry. He has been at its core ever since and has a amused expression when considering the journey.
“There might be a brief moment reflecting at what you have accomplished and go: ‘Incredible, what an achievement what we have built in under three years,’” he notes. “Then the very next instant you realize: ‘Yeah, we’ve still got quite a lot to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Challenge
Nick Chester achieved victories at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s title-winning campaigns of 2005 and 2006 and was in control of technical development at the new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no other project has been quite like the task of bringing the quintessentially American Cadillac marque, a manufacturer-backed entry sponsored by the parent company, GM, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Creating an Formula One team from scratch, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he observes. “It's unparalleled. In an well-set team you won't have the opportunity to transform team culture.”
With every day that elapses focus are sharper on the looming decisive point in the Australian GP and expectations are being managed.
“It's reasonable to expect that a brand-new squad coming in is probably going to finish last but merely participating will be an feat in itself,” Graeme Lowdon commented recently and while the CTO shared this view he believed the organization had a reputation to build as well.
“The initial objective we aim to demonstrate is that we deserve to be there,” he emphasizes. “In order that we turn up and we perform competently. We want to show that we are a serious contender executing the proper actions on the track. After we’ve shown that our credentials are solid, then we aim to demonstrate progression from there on.”
Pilot Selection and Hiring Effort
In late summer they signed Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas as their racers for 2026, a pair distinguished for their vast knowledge in operating at the front in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull Racing and the Mercedes team, and the Finnish driver expressed the sentiment of fighting spirit.
“Certainly, we’re realistic,” he commented. “We have a mountain of work to do, and it will likely be probably a challenging beginning, because this is Formula One. But our goal isn't to finish last. I believe with this structure, with this group, these people, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to advance swiftly up to the pace and enjoy some success.”
To realize that ambition hiring has been in full swing, with employees now reaching over 400 and scheduled to reach the target of 600 members swiftly. Complementing their current base at the Silverstone circuit, the squad are in the process of building an headquarters at Fishers in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are building the center to produce the power unit, set for 2029 – in the meantime they will run power from Ferrari – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Germany. It is a sophisticated structure, different from the trend in Formula One for greater centralisation, and has prompted the innovative team culture to which Nick Chester referred.
NASA Blueprint
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo program,” said the team principal shortly before the British Grand Prix in the summer. “We’re realistic, we recognize how tough it is. The timelines, are extremely compressed. Well, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have embraced, as opposed to the conventional chain of command, a flat management structure akin to that of Nasa’s, where there were a range of Apollo teams all focusing on various components of the project at a variety of locations.
“When you must follow a protocol where an issue arises and they raise it up to their team leader, that leader communicates with a leader in another department, it travels back down, it’s super slow,” says Nick Chester. “We give authority to people to handle things directly. Avoiding hierarchical consent for everything is so much cleaner and faster.”
Upcoming Challenges
The efficacy of this nimble approach will be proven in the pressure of racing when the season begins and there is a considerable amount riding on this for the sport, too. Cadillac have recruited as their reserve driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta
