Approximately one year previously at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally given the go-ahead as F1's most recent entry for 2026. Establishing the organization from nothing has required a hectic pace of work that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo moon landing. As Formula One descends on Vegas this weekend, the team understand the deadline is approaching.
The Race Against Time to Australia
At the final race of the season to be staged in the US, with approximately 100 days to go before they take to the track for the first time in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a never-ending challenge, they are cognizant there will never be sufficient time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, became part of the newly formed team in March 2023 shortly after it was established, when the squad were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its center from that point and enjoys a knowing grin when considering the journey.
“You might get five minutes looking back at what the team has achieved and go: ‘Wow, how impressive what we have built in a short three-year period,’” he says. “But then the next minute you consider: ‘Well, there is still a great deal to do.’”
An Unprecedented Challenge
Chester achieved victories at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s title-winning years of the mid-2000s and was in charge of technical direction at the then-new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but nothing has been quite like the task of launching the iconic American Cadillac brand, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the owner, GM, into Formula One.
“Creating an Formula One team from scratch, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” Chester remarks. “It is like nothing else. In an well-set team you won't have the possibility to change team culture.”
With each day that elapses focus are sharper on the approaching decisive point in Melbourne and targets are being managed.
“It's reasonable to expect that any new team coming in is going to be last but just making it to the starting line will be an feat in itself,” Graeme Lowdon noted recently and while Nick Chester echoed this he believed the squad had a reputation to build as well.
“The initial objective we intend to prove is that we should be there,” he emphasizes. “So we turn up and we perform competently. We want to show that this is a professional operation executing the correct procedures on the race track. After we have demonstrated that we’re really credible, then we will focus on improvement from there on.”
Driver Lineup and Team Building Drive
In August they recruited Checo Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their drivers for the 2026 season, a duo remarkable for their priceless expertise in competing at the sharp end in two top-tier teams, the Red Bull team and Mercedes, and Bottas reflected the attitude of determined optimism.
“Naturally, we are pragmatic,” he said. “We have a massive task to do, and it will likely be probably a difficult start, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we’re not there to stay at the back. I believe with this structure, with this group, these personnel, there’s no reason why we can't manage to advance swiftly up to the pace and enjoy some success.”
To that end staff acquisition has been in top gear, with staff now at in excess of 400 and planned to hit the goal of six hundred rapidly. Complementing their current base at the Silverstone circuit, the squad are in the midst of building an main base at the Fishers location in Indy and there is the General Motors facility in North Carolina, where they are constructing the facility to build the new engine, set for 2029 – for now they will operate with power from Ferrari – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Germany. It is a sophisticated organization, different from the movement in Formula One for greater centralisation, and has prompted the innovative team culture to which the CTO referred to.
Space Mission Inspiration
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo program,” said Graeme Lowdon shortly before the Silverstone race in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we recognize how challenging it is. The timelines, they’re super, super, super short. Alright, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have embraced, rather than the conventional chain of command, a non-hierarchical approach similar to that of the space agency's, where there were a range of Apollo teams all tackling distinct elements of the program in a multiple sites.
“If you have to go through a process where a challenge emerges and they escalate it to their team leader, that leader talks to a supervisor somewhere else, it travels back down, it’s super slow,” says Nick Chester. “So we empower staff to handle things directly. Avoiding managerial sign-off for everything is so much cleaner and quicker.”
Upcoming Challenges
The effectiveness of this agile approach will be proven in the pressure of racing next season and there is a considerable amount on the line for Formula One, too. Cadillac have signed as their reserve driver the emerging American Colton Herta
