Approximately one year ago at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately given the go-ahead as the world of Formula One's newest entry for 2026. Building the team from the ground up has entailed a frenetic operating tempo that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the NASA lunar mission. As Formula One converges on Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac are aware the clock is ticking.
The Tight Timeline to Melbourne
At the last event of the campaign to be hosted in the United States, with just over three months to go before they take to the track for the maiden outing in Australia at the 2026 opener, the Cadillac F1 project have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a never-ending task, they are conscious there will never be enough hours in the day.
The CTO, Nick Chester, became part of the embryonic project in March 2023 shortly after it was created, when the team were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its heart from that point and gets a knowing grin when reflecting on the ride.
“You can have a short period looking back at what the team has achieved and think: ‘Wow, isn’t this fantastic what we have built in a short three-year period,’” Chester states. “Then the following moment you consider: ‘Well, we still have a significant amount to do.’”
An Unprecedented Challenge
Nick Chester enjoyed success at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s title-winning seasons of 2005/2006 and was in control of technical development at the recently formed Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but nothing has been quite like the challenge of bringing the quintessentially American Cadillac brand, a works entry sponsored by the owner, General Motors, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Establishing an grand prix team from scratch, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he observes. “It is like nothing else. In an existing team you rarely get the opportunity to change cultural approach.”
With each passing day that goes by thoughts are sharper on the approaching critical moment in the Australian GP and targets are being set realistically.
“You have to assume that any new team joining the grid is likely to start at the back but merely participating will be an feat in itself,” Graeme Lowdon commented earlier this year and while Chester agreed with this sentiment he felt the team had a statement to make as well.
“Our primary goal we want to show is that we belong on the grid,” he emphasizes. “In order that we show up and we function efficiently. We want to show that this is a professional operation performing the correct procedures on the circuit. Once we have demonstrated that our credentials are solid, then we will focus on forward movement subsequently.”
Pilot Selection and Recruitment Push
In the summer they signed Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas as their pilots for 2026, a duo distinguished for their vast knowledge in operating at the leading positions in two top-tier teams, Red Bull Racing and the Mercedes team, and Valtteri Bottas expressed the sentiment of fighting spirit.
“Naturally, we have a realistic outlook,” he said. “We have a huge amount of work 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 stay at the back. I believe with this structure, with this team, this staff, there is every reason that we shouldn’t be able to advance swiftly to a competitive level and achieve good results.”
To that end staff acquisition has been in top gear, with employees now up to over 400 and planned to attain the target of 600 members swiftly. In addition to their current base at the UK base, the squad are in the phase of finishing an headquarters at Fishers in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, where they are constructing the facility to manufacture the 2029 engine, planned for 2029 – until then they will operate with Ferrari power units – and the aerodynamic facility in Germany. It is a complex structure, contrary to the direction in the sport for increased consolidation, and has inspired the new cultural approach to which the CTO referred.
Apollo Model
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo program,” stated Lowdon just before the British GP in the summer. “We’re realistic, we recognize how tough it is. The schedules, are extremely compressed. OK, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it can seem that way.”
So they have adopted, rather than the conventional chain of command, a flat management structure akin to that of Nasa’s, where there were a range of specialist groups all focusing on distinct elements of the program at a variety of locations.
“In a system where you follow a protocol where a challenge emerges and they raise it up to their team leader, that leader talks to a supervisor at a different location, it goes back down the chain, the process is very slow,” explains Nick Chester. “So we empower team members to take charge. Eliminating hierarchical consent for each action is so much cleaner and faster.”
Upcoming Challenges
The effectiveness of this flexible strategy will be proven in the heat of competition next season and there is a significant degree riding on this for Formula One, too. Cadillac have recruited as their test driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta
