A little more than a full year previously at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last given the go-ahead as Formula One’s most recent entry for 2026. Establishing the team from scratch has involved a intense work rate that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the NASA lunar mission. As the sport arrives on Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac understand time is getting tight.
The Race Against Time to Australia
At the season finale of the championship to be hosted in the US, with just over 100 days to go before they hit the circuit for the inaugural time in Australia at the first race of 2026, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a monumental task, they are cognizant there will never be enough hours in the day.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, joined the embryonic team in March 2023 shortly after it was formed, when the team were without even an official entry. He has been at its core since then and has a amused expression when considering the ride.
“You can have a brief moment thinking back at what you’ve done and think: ‘Wow, isn’t this fantastic what we have built in less than three years,’” he says. “But then the next minute you realize: ‘Yes, we still have a great deal to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Opportunity
Nick Chester enjoyed success at the Renault team in the driver Fernando Alonso's championship-winning years of 2005/2006 and was in charge of engineering strategy at the then-new Mercedes Formula E team, but no previous experience has quite compared with the challenge of introducing the all-American Cadillac marque, a works entry backed by the parent company, GM, into F1.
“Building an Formula One team from scratch, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he observes. “There's nothing comparable. In an established team you rarely get the chance to alter cultural approach.”
With every day that elapses minds are sharper on the impending critical moment in Melbourne and expectations are being set realistically.
“You have to assume that any new team coming in is going to be last but simply getting on to the grid will be an feat in itself,” Lowdon stated recently and while Chester agreed with this sentiment he believed the team had a statement to make as well.
“The initial objective we intend to prove is that we should be there,” Chester explains. “So we show up and we perform competently. We want to show that we’re a proper team performing the right things on the circuit. When we’ve shown that our credentials are solid, then we aim to demonstrate forward movement after that.”
Racing Talent and Hiring Effort
In the summer they signed Checo Pérez and Valtteri as their pilots for the 2026 season, a tandem distinguished for their priceless expertise in operating at the front in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull and Mercedes, and Bottas reflected the mood of fighting spirit.
“Of course, we’re realistic,” Bottas stated. “We have a huge amount of work to do, and it’s going to be probably a difficult start, because this is Formula One. But we aren't joining to stay at the back. In my view with this structure, with this group, these personnel, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to advance swiftly up to the pace and achieve good results.”
To that end hiring has been in overdrive, with personnel now at over 400 and intended to reach the goal of 600 quickly. Alongside their present headquarters at the UK base, the organization are in the midst of finishing an main base at Fishers in Indianapolis and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, where they are building the center to produce the new engine, planned for the 2029 season – for now they will use Ferrari engines – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne. It is a sophisticated structure, contrary to the direction in the sport for more centralization, and has led to the fresh organizational mindset to which Nick Chester referred.
Apollo Model
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo program,” said Graeme Lowdon shortly before the British Grand Prix in mid-season. “We are pragmatic, we understand how tough it is. The timelines, they’re super, super, super short. OK, it's not a space expedition, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have implemented, instead of the usual hierarchical system, a flat management structure similar to that of Nasa’s, where there were a range of specialist groups all focusing on various components of the project in a variety of locations.
“If you have to go through a procedure where someone has a problem and they raise it up to their supervisor, that manager talks to a manager somewhere else, it is relayed back, the process is very slow,” explains Nick Chester. “Therefore we enable team members to handle things directly. Moving away from hierarchical consent for everything is so much cleaner and faster.”
What Lies Ahead
The success of this nimble strategy will be tested in the intensity of Grand Prix in 2026 and there is a considerable amount at stake for Formula One, too. Cadillac have recruited as their test driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta
