A little more than a full year previously at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately granted the official approval as Formula One’s latest entry for 2026. Constructing the team from scratch has required a frenetic work rate that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo moon landing. As F1 arrives on Las Vegas this race weekend, the team are aware time is getting tight.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the final race of the season to be staged in the United States, with just over three months to go before they make their debut for the maiden outing in Australia at the 2026 opener, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a sisyphean task, they are aware there will never be sufficient time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, became part of the embryonic project in early 2023 shortly after it was formed, when the organization were without even an official entry. He has been at its center ever since and enjoys a knowing grin when reflecting on the journey.
“You can have five minutes reflecting at what you have accomplished and go: ‘Wow, isn’t this fantastic what the team has created in a short three-year period,’” he notes. “And then the next minute you realize: ‘Well, we’ve still got a significant amount to do.’”
A Unique Task
The CTO had success at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s championship-winning years of 2005 and 2006 and was in control of technical development at the then-new Mercedes Formula E team, but no other project has been quite like the mission of bringing the all-American Cadillac name, a factory team sponsored by the parent company, GM, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Establishing an F1 team from scratch, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he observes. “It's unparalleled. In an existing team you don’t get the possibility to transform team culture.”
With each passing day that goes by focus are more focused on the impending critical moment in the Australian GP and expectations are being set realistically.
“It's reasonable to expect that a brand-new squad coming in is probably going to finish last but simply getting on to the grid will be an achievement in itself,” Graeme Lowdon commented recently and while the CTO shared this view he felt the organization had a statement to make as well.
“The initial objective we want to show is that we deserve to be there,” Chester explains. “In order that we turn up and we operate well. We aim to demonstrate that we are a serious contender executing the correct procedures on the track. After we have demonstrated that we’re really credible, then we want to show improvement after that.”
Driver Lineup and Hiring Drive
In late summer they contracted Checo Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their racers for the 2026 season, a tandem notable for their vast knowledge in competing at the leading positions in two top-tier teams, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes, and Valtteri Bottas echoed the sentiment of combative optimism.
“Certainly, we’re realistic,” he commented. “There’s going to be a massive task to do, and we expect most likely a challenging beginning, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we aren't joining to remain at the rear. I believe with this structure, with these individuals, these people, it's entirely possible we shouldn’t be able to progress rapidly to a competitive level and taste victory.”
To that end staff acquisition has been in top gear, with employees now at more than 400 and planned to reach the goal of 600 swiftly. Complementing their current base at the Silverstone circuit, the organization are in the midst of finishing an HQ at Fishers, Indiana in Indy and there is the GM plant in North Carolina, where they are building the facility to manufacture the 2029 engine, scheduled for the 2029 season – in the meantime they will run Ferrari engines – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Germany. It is a intricate organisation, contrary to the movement in Formula One for greater centralisation, and has inspired the innovative team culture to which the CTO referred to.
Space Mission Model
“It's closely based on the Apollo program,” stated Graeme Lowdon just before the British Grand Prix in mid-season. “We have a clear-eyed view, we understand how difficult it is. The schedules, they’re super, super, super short. Alright, it's not a space expedition, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have embraced, rather than the traditional management structure, a non-hierarchical approach akin to that of NASA's, where there were a range of specialist groups all working on different aspects of the mission at a variety of locations.
“When you must follow a procedure where an issue arises and they report it to their manager, that leader consults a leader in another department, it travels back down, the process is very slow,” says Nick Chester. “We give authority to staff to really get on with it. Moving away from hierarchical consent for each action is far more efficient and faster.”
Upcoming Challenges
The success of this flexible methodology will be proven in the intensity of Grand Prix when the season begins and there is a significant degree at stake for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have taken on as their development driver the young American Colton Herta
