A little more than twelve months ago at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were at last granted the green light as Formula One’s most recent entry for 2026. Constructing the team from nothing has involved a hectic operating tempo that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo program. As Formula One arrives on Las Vegas this weekend, the team understand the clock is ticking.
The Tight Timeline to Australia
At the season finale of the campaign to be staged in the United States, with approximately three months to go before they hit the circuit for the first time in Australia at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a sisyphean task, they are cognizant there will not be adequate time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, came aboard the nascent operation in March 2023 not long after it was formed, when the team were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its heart from that point and enjoys a knowing grin when thinking about the ride.
“There might be a short period looking back at what you have accomplished and say: ‘Incredible, how impressive what we have built in a short three-year period,’” he notes. “Then the following moment you realize: ‘Yeah, we’ve still got quite a lot to do.’”
An Unprecedented Opportunity
Chester achieved victories at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s title-winning campaigns of the mid-2000s and was in control of technical direction at the new Mercedes Formula E team, but no previous experience has truly matched the challenge of introducing the iconic American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the owner, GM, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Creating an grand prix team from scratch, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” Chester remarks. “There's nothing comparable. In an established team you don’t get the opportunity to transform organizational mindset.”
With each day that passes minds are increasingly concentrated on the impending moment of truth in Australia and goals are being handled.
“You have to assume that any incoming team coming in is going to be last but merely participating will be an achievement in itself,” Lowdon commented recently and while Chester agreed with this sentiment he believed the squad had a statement to make as well.
“Our primary goal we aim to demonstrate is that we belong on the grid,” Chester explains. “So that we show up and we perform competently. We aim to demonstrate that this is a professional operation executing the right things on the track. After we have demonstrated that we’re really credible, then we aim to demonstrate forward movement after that.”
Pilot Selection and Recruitment Drive
In the summer they contracted Checo Pérez and Bottas as their drivers for the 2026 season, a duo distinguished for their invaluable experience in competing at the leading positions in two top-tier teams, Red Bull and the Mercedes team, and Valtteri Bottas expressed the sentiment of fighting spirit.
“Of course, we’re realistic,” he said. “We face a huge amount of work to do, and we expect probably a tough opening, because it is F1. But we’re not there to finish last. I am confident with this setup, with this group, these people, it's entirely possible we won't be able to get relatively quickly up to the pace and taste victory.”
To realize that ambition hiring has been in top gear, with personnel now up to in excess of 400 and intended to attain the objective of six hundred quickly. Alongside their existing facility at Silverstone, the team are in the midst of building an headquarters at Fishers, Indiana in Indy and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, where they are building the facility to manufacture the new engine, set for 2029 – in the meantime they will run power from Ferrari – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne. It is a sophisticated organization, contrary to the trend in F1 for more centralization, and has prompted the fresh organizational mindset to which Chester alluded.
Space Mission Model
“It's closely based on the Apollo project,” said the team principal just before the British Grand Prix in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we know how difficult it is. The timelines, are incredibly tight. Well, it's not a space expedition, but it can seem that way.”
So they have implemented, as opposed to the traditional management structure, a non-hierarchical approach similar to that of the space agency's, where there were a assortment of Apollo teams all focusing on different aspects of the project across a multiple sites.
“When you must follow a process where an issue arises and they raise it up to their supervisor, that manager consults a supervisor somewhere else, it is relayed back, it’s super slow,” notes Nick Chester. “Therefore we enable people to really get on with it. Avoiding management approval for all decisions is much smoother and quicker.”
Upcoming Challenges
The success of this flexible approach will be tested in the intensity of Grand Prix when the season begins and there is a significant degree on the line for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their development driver the young Californian Colton Herta
