🔗 Share this article

Approximately a full year previously at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last awarded the go-ahead as Formula One’s most recent entry for the 2026 season. Building the team from nothing has entailed a intense work rate that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo program. As F1 descends on the Vegas strip this race weekend, the team understand the deadline is approaching.

The Race Against Time to Melbourne

At the season finale of the campaign to be held in the America, with around 100 days to go before they take to the track for the maiden outing in Australia at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a sisyphean endeavor, they are cognizant there will never be enough hours in the day.

The CTO, Nick Chester, became part of the embryonic project in early 2023 soon after it was created, when the squad were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its center ever since and gets a knowing grin when thinking about the journey.

“There might be a short period thinking back at what you have accomplished and say: ‘Incredible, what an achievement what the team has created in under three years,’” Chester states. “And then the next minute you think: ‘Yes, we’ve still got a great deal to do.’”

An Unprecedented Task

Chester had success at the Renault team in the driver Fernando Alonso's championship-winning seasons of 2005 and 2006 and was in charge of technical development at the recently formed Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no previous experience has truly matched the challenge of introducing the all-American Cadillac marque, a works entry backed by the corporate entity, General Motors, into the pinnacle of motorsport.

“Establishing an Formula One team from the ground up, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he observes. “There's nothing comparable. In an established team you won't have the opportunity to change team culture.”

With each passing day that elapses focus are more focused on the approaching moment of truth in Australia and targets are being managed.

“You have to assume that a brand-new squad joining the grid is probably going to finish last but merely participating will be an achievement in itself,” Graeme Lowdon commented recently and while the CTO agreed with this sentiment he felt the organization had a reputation to build as well.

“Our primary goal we aim to demonstrate is that we should be there,” he says. “In order that we show up and we perform competently. We aim to demonstrate that we’re a proper team doing the right things on the race track. Once we’ve shown that our credentials are solid, then we aim to demonstrate forward movement subsequently.”

Racing Talent and Team Building Push

In late summer they recruited Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas as their racers for the 2026 season, a tandem notable for their priceless expertise in competing at the front in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull and Mercedes, and Bottas reflected the mood of fighting spirit.

“Certainly, we are pragmatic,” Bottas stated. “We have a mountain of work to do, and it’s going to be most likely a difficult start, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we aren't joining to stay at the back. In my view with this structure, with these individuals, these people, it's entirely possible we won't be able to progress rapidly to a competitive level and enjoy some success.”

To achieve that goal staff acquisition has been in top gear, with staff now up to over 400 and intended to hit the target of 600 rapidly. Complementing their present headquarters at the Silverstone circuit, the squad are in the phase of building an HQ at Fishers, Indiana in Indianapolis and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, where they are building the plant to produce the 2029 engine, scheduled for 2029 – for now they will use Ferrari engines – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne. It is a sophisticated organization, contrary to the trend in Formula One for increased consolidation, and has inspired the innovative team culture to which Nick Chester referred to.

Space Mission Inspiration

“It's closely based on the Apollo project,” stated Graeme Lowdon just before the Silverstone race in July. “We are pragmatic, we recognize how challenging it is. The schedules, they’re super, super, super short. OK, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it can seem that way.”

So they have embraced, as opposed to the usual hierarchical system, a decentralized management similar to that of NASA's, where there were a assortment of specialist groups all working on distinct elements of the mission in a multiple sites.

“When you must follow a process where someone has a problem and they escalate it to their team leader, that supervisor consults a leader in another department, it goes back down the chain, the process is very slow,” notes Nick Chester. “We give authority to staff to take charge. Eliminating management approval for each action is much smoother and more rapid.”

What Lies Ahead

The efficacy of this flexible methodology will be tested in the intensity of Grand Prix next season and there is a considerable amount on the line for Formula One, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their reserve driver the young Californian Colton Herta