Just over twelve months ago at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately awarded the official approval as F1's most recent entry for the 2026 season. Building the squad from the ground up has involved a frenetic work rate that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo program. As Formula One descends on Las Vegas this race weekend, the team know the deadline is approaching.
The Tight Timeline to Melbourne
At the last event of the campaign to be staged in the United States, with approximately three months to go before they make their debut for the first time in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a sisyphean endeavor, they are aware there will never be enough hours in the day.
The CTO, Nick Chester, joined the nascent operation in the spring of 2023 not long after it was established, when the team were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its core since then and has a amused expression when reflecting on the journey.
“There might be five minutes thinking back at what you have accomplished and think: ‘Amazing, what an achievement what the team has created in under three years,’” he notes. “And then the following moment you think: ‘Well, we still have quite a lot to do.’”
A Unique Task
The CTO achieved victories at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s title-winning campaigns of 2005 and 2006 and was in charge of technical development at the recently formed Mercedes Formula E team, but no previous experience has been quite like the task of bringing the iconic American Cadillac brand, a manufacturer-backed entry sponsored by the corporate entity, General Motors, into F1.
“Establishing an grand prix team from scratch, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he observes. “It is like nothing else. In an established team you don’t get the possibility to change cultural approach.”
With each passing day that passes focus are increasingly concentrated on the looming critical moment in Melbourne and targets are being managed.
“You have to assume that any new team coming in is going to be last but simply getting on to the grid will be an feat in itself,” Graeme Lowdon noted earlier this year and while the CTO echoed this he believed the squad had a statement to make as well.
“Our primary goal we intend to prove is that we belong on the grid,” he says. “So we turn up and we function efficiently. We aim to demonstrate that we are a serious contender executing the right things on the track. After we have demonstrated that we are a legitimate team, then we aim to demonstrate progression subsequently.”
Racing Talent and Hiring Effort
In August they recruited Sergio Perez and Bottas as their pilots for 2026, a duo notable for their vast knowledge in competing at the sharp end in two top-tier teams, Red Bull and Mercedes-AMG, and the Finnish driver echoed the sentiment of determined optimism.
“Certainly, we are pragmatic,” Bottas stated. “We have a massive task to do, and we expect probably a tough opening, because it is F1. But we’re not there to stay at the back. I am confident with this structure, with these individuals, these people, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to advance swiftly up to the pace and enjoy some success.”
To that end recruitment has been in overdrive, with employees now reaching in excess of 400 and planned to reach the goal of six hundred quickly. Alongside their current base at Silverstone, the team are in the midst of finishing an main base at Fishers, Indiana in Indy and there is the GM plant in North Carolina, where they are building the center to produce the power unit, planned for the 2029 season – for now they will use power from Ferrari – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a intricate organization, contrary to the trend in F1 for greater centralisation, and has inspired the innovative team culture to which Nick Chester referred to.
NASA Inspiration
“It's closely based on the Apollo program,” remarked Lowdon just before the Silverstone race in July. “We are pragmatic, we understand how difficult it is. The timelines, they’re super, super, super short. Well, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have implemented, instead of the conventional chain of command, a flat management structure similar to that of Nasa’s, where there were a assortment of specialist groups all focusing on various components of the project in a different facilities.
“In a system where you follow a protocol where a challenge emerges and they escalate it to their manager, that manager talks to a supervisor in another department, it goes back down the chain, it becomes inefficient,” notes Chester. “Therefore we enable people to handle things directly. Eliminating managerial sign-off for all decisions is much smoother and quicker.”
The Future
The success of this nimble methodology will be evaluated in the intensity of Grand Prix next season and there is a significant degree at stake for Formula One, too. Cadillac have taken on as their development driver the emerging American Colton Herta
