A little more than twelve months previously at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were at last given the go-ahead as the world of Formula One's newest entrant for 2026. Constructing the team from nothing has involved a hectic work rate that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo moon landing. As Formula One converges on Vegas this race weekend, the team understand time is getting tight.
The Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the season finale of the championship to be staged in the US, with approximately a hundred days to go before they take to the track for the maiden outing in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a never-ending challenge, they are cognizant there will not be enough hours in the day.
The CTO, Nick Chester, came aboard the nascent team in March 2023 shortly after it was established, when the organization were without even an official entry. He has been at its heart ever since and enjoys a knowing grin when reflecting on the journey.
“There might be five minutes reflecting at what you’ve done and think: ‘Incredible, how impressive what the team has created in under three years,’” Chester states. “And then the very next instant you consider: ‘Yeah, we still have a significant amount to do.’”
A Unique Task
Chester achieved victories at Renault in the driver Fernando Alonso's title-winning campaigns of 2005 and 2006 and was in control of technical development at the new Mercedes Formula E team, but no previous experience has been quite like the challenge of bringing the all-American Cadillac brand, a manufacturer-backed entry backed by the owner, General Motors, into Formula One.
“Creating an grand prix team from scratch, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he says. “It's unparalleled. In an existing team you won't have the possibility to alter cultural approach.”
With each day that elapses thoughts are increasingly concentrated on the looming moment of truth in the Australian GP and goals are being set realistically.
“One must presume that any incoming team joining the grid is probably going to finish last but merely participating will be an achievement in itself,” Lowdon noted earlier this year and while Chester agreed with this sentiment he believed the team had a statement to make as well.
“The initial objective we aim to demonstrate is that we should be there,” Chester explains. “So we show up and we perform competently. We seek to prove that we are a serious contender doing the proper actions on the circuit. After we have demonstrated that we’re really credible, then we aim to demonstrate improvement subsequently.”
Pilot Selection and Team Building Push
In late summer they signed Checo Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a duo notable for their invaluable experience in operating at the leading positions in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes-AMG, and Bottas echoed the attitude of combative optimism.
“Of course, we have a realistic outlook,” he commented. “We face a mountain of work to do, and it will likely be almost certainly a challenging beginning, because this is Formula One. But our goal isn't to finish last. I believe with this setup, with this team, these people, it's entirely possible we shouldn’t be able to advance swiftly to a competitive level and achieve good results.”
To that end staff acquisition has been in full swing, with personnel now up to more than 400 and planned to reach the goal of 600 members quickly. Complementing their current base at Silverstone, the squad are in the process of building an main base at Fishers, Indiana in Indy and there is the GM plant in North Carolina, where they are constructing the center to manufacture the 2029 engine, scheduled for 2029 – until then they will run Ferrari power units – and the aerodynamic facility in Germany. It is a sophisticated organisation, different from the trend in the sport for more centralization, and has prompted the innovative team culture to which the CTO alluded.
Space Mission Blueprint
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo program,” stated Lowdon just before the British GP in mid-season. “We’re realistic, we understand how difficult it is. The schedules, are extremely compressed. Well, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have embraced, instead of the usual hierarchical system, a non-hierarchical approach akin to that of Nasa’s, where there were a variety of project teams all focusing on various components of the program at a multiple sites.
“If you have to go through a procedure where someone has a problem and they raise it up to their supervisor, that supervisor talks to a manager at a different location, it travels back down, it’s super slow,” notes Nick Chester. “We give authority to team members to handle things directly. Avoiding management approval for each action is so much cleaner and quicker.”
Upcoming Challenges
The success of this flexible approach will be proven in the pressure of racing next season and there is a significant degree at stake for Formula One, too. Cadillac have signed as their development driver the young American Colton Herta
