Approximately one year previously at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were at last granted the green light as the world of Formula One's latest participant for 2026. Building the squad from scratch has involved a intense operating tempo that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo program. As F1 converges on Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac understand time is getting tight.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the season finale of the campaign to be hosted in the America, with around three months to go before they take to the track for the maiden outing in Australia at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a never-ending task, they are aware there will not be sufficient time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, joined the newly formed project in the spring of 2023 soon after it was formed, when the squad were without even an official entry. He has been at its core ever since and has a knowing grin when thinking about the journey.
“You can have a brief moment thinking back at what the team has achieved and think: ‘Incredible, how impressive what we’ve done in a short three-year period,’” Chester states. “Then the next minute you consider: ‘Well, there is still a great deal to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Task
Nick Chester achieved victories at Renault in the driver Fernando Alonso's victorious campaigns of 2005 and 2006 and was in command of engineering strategy at the then-new Mercedes Formula E team, but no previous experience has been quite like the task of launching the iconic American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry sponsored by the corporate entity, GM, into Formula One.
“Building an Formula One team from the ground up, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he observes. “It's unparalleled. In an well-set team you don’t get the opportunity to alter organizational mindset.”
With every day that passes focus are more focused on the approaching moment of truth in Melbourne and expectations are being managed.
“One must presume that any incoming team entering the sport is likely to start at the back but simply getting on to the grid will be an achievement in itself,” Graeme Lowdon stated earlier this year and while the CTO agreed with this sentiment he believed the organization had a statement to make as well.
“Our primary goal we want to show is that we belong on the grid,” Chester explains. “So that we turn up and we perform competently. We want to show that we’re a proper team performing the right things on the circuit. After we have demonstrated that we’re really credible, then we will focus on progression from there on.”
Racing Talent and Team Building Drive
In August they signed Sergio Pérez and Bottas as their drivers for the 2026 season, a duo distinguished for their vast knowledge in performing at the sharp end in two championship-winning squads, the Red Bull team and the Mercedes team, and the Finnish driver echoed the mood of combative optimism.
“Certainly, we’re realistic,” he said. “We face a massive task to do, and it’s going to be almost certainly a difficult start, because it is F1. But we’re not there to remain at the rear. I believe given this organization, with this group, this staff, it's entirely possible we won't be able to progress rapidly up to the pace and enjoy some success.”
To that end recruitment has been in full swing, with personnel now reaching more than 400 and scheduled to reach the target of 600 members swiftly. Complementing their current base at the UK base, the team are in the process of completing an main base at the Fishers location in the Indianapolis area and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are developing the plant to produce the 2029 engine, planned for the 2029 season – for now they will operate with Ferrari engines – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a complex organization, at odds with the trend in F1 for greater centralisation, and has prompted the new cultural approach to which Nick Chester alluded.
Apollo Model
“We've drawn heavily from the NASA moon mission,” remarked Graeme Lowdon ahead of the British Grand Prix in mid-season. “We are pragmatic, we know how tough it is. The schedules, are extremely compressed. Alright, it's not a space expedition, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have adopted, as opposed to the usual hierarchical system, a non-hierarchical approach akin to that of Nasa’s, where there were a assortment of specialist groups all working on various components of the project in a different facilities.
“When you must follow a process where a challenge emerges and they report it to their team leader, that supervisor communicates with a leader at a different location, it goes back down the chain, the process is very slow,” says Chester. “So we empower staff to take charge. Moving away from hierarchical consent for everything is much smoother and more rapid.”
Upcoming Challenges
The success of this nimble strategy will be tested in the pressure of racing next season and there is a considerable amount at stake for Formula One, too. Cadillac have recruited as their reserve driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta
