Just over one year ago at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally awarded the green light as Formula One’s most recent entry for 2026. Building the team from scratch has required a frenetic operating tempo that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo program. As the sport descends on the Vegas strip this race weekend, the team are aware the clock is ticking.
The Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the last event of the championship to be staged in the US, with just over 100 days to go before they hit the circuit for the first time in Melbourne at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a sisyphean challenge, they are aware there will never be enough hours in the day.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, became part of the newly formed team in the spring of 2023 not long after it was formed, when the squad were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its center from that point and enjoys a wry smile when reflecting on the journey.
“You can have five minutes looking back at what you’ve done and think: ‘Incredible, what an achievement what we have built in a short three-year period,’” he says. “Then the very next instant you consider: ‘Yes, there is still quite a lot to do.’”
A Unique Opportunity
Chester enjoyed success at Renault in the driver Fernando Alonso's victorious seasons of 2005/2006 and was in command of technical direction at the then-new Mercedes electric racing team, but nothing has quite compared with the challenge of introducing the iconic American Cadillac brand, a works entry sponsored by the corporate entity, General Motors, into Formula One.
“Creating an F1 team from the ground up, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he observes. “There's nothing comparable. In an existing team you won't have the chance to alter team culture.”
With each passing day that passes minds are more focused on the approaching decisive point in the Australian GP and expectations are being set realistically.
“One must presume that any new team joining the grid is probably going to finish last but merely participating will be an feat in itself,” the team principal noted this year and while Chester agreed with this sentiment he believed the team had a reputation to build as well.
“The first thing we want to show is that we belong on the grid,” Chester explains. “In order that we turn up and we perform competently. We want to show that we are a serious contender executing the correct procedures on the circuit. After we have demonstrated that our credentials are solid, then we want to show forward movement after that.”
Driver Lineup and Hiring Push
In the summer they signed Checo Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a pair distinguished for their invaluable experience in performing at the leading positions in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull and Mercedes, and Valtteri Bottas echoed the sentiment of combative optimism.
“Of course, we are pragmatic,” he commented. “There’s going to be a massive task to do, and it will likely be probably a challenging beginning, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we aren't joining to finish last. I believe with this structure, with this team, these people, there is every reason that we won't be able to get relatively quickly to the front and taste victory.”
To achieve that goal staff acquisition has been in top gear, with personnel now at more than 400 and scheduled to reach the objective of 600 members swiftly. In addition to their current base at the Silverstone circuit, the squad are in the midst of building an headquarters at the Fishers location in the Indianapolis area and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, where they are building the plant to manufacture the new engine, scheduled for the 2029 season – for now they will operate with Ferrari engines – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne, Germany. It is a sophisticated organisation, contrary to the direction in F1 for greater centralisation, and has prompted the fresh organizational mindset to which the CTO referred to.
Space Mission Blueprint
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo program,” remarked Graeme Lowdon ahead of the British GP in mid-season. “We have a clear-eyed view, we understand how tough it is. The timelines, are extremely compressed. OK, it's not a space expedition, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have implemented, instead of the usual hierarchical system, a non-hierarchical approach comparable to that of the space agency's, where there were a assortment of Apollo teams all focusing on various components of the program at a multiple sites.
“In a system where you follow a protocol where someone has a problem and they report it to their manager, that leader communicates with a supervisor at a different location, it travels back down, it becomes inefficient,” explains the CTO. “Therefore we enable staff to really get on with it. Moving away from management approval for each action is far more efficient and quicker.”
Upcoming Challenges
The effectiveness of this flexible strategy will be tested in the pressure of racing in 2026 and there is a significant degree at stake for F1, too. Cadillac have signed as their test driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
