Just over a full year previously at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally granted the go-ahead as Formula One’s latest participant for 2026. Establishing the organization from nothing has involved a frenetic work rate that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo moon landing. As Formula One descends on Vegas this weekend, the team know the clock is ticking.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the final race of the campaign to be staged in the United States, with just over three months to go before they hit the circuit for the inaugural time in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a never-ending endeavor, they are aware there will never be enough hours in the day.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, came aboard the nascent team in early 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 gets a wry smile when reflecting on the experience.
“There might be five minutes looking back at what you’ve done and go: ‘Amazing, what an achievement what we have built in less than three years,’” he notes. “Then the very next instant you consider: ‘Yeah, we’ve still got quite a lot to do.’”
An Unprecedented Task
Nick Chester achieved victories at Renault in the driver Fernando Alonso's victorious years of the mid-2000s and was in control of technical direction at the recently formed Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but nothing has truly matched the challenge of bringing the iconic American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the parent company, GM, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Building an Formula One team from nothing, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he says. “There's nothing comparable. In an established team you don’t get the opportunity to alter cultural approach.”
With each day that passes focus are sharper on the looming decisive point in Australia and goals are being set realistically.
“You have to assume that any new team entering the sport is going to be last but merely participating will be an achievement in itself,” Lowdon commented earlier this year and while the CTO echoed this he thought the organization had a point to prove as well.
“The initial objective we want to show is that we deserve to be there,” he emphasizes. “In order that we arrive and we operate well. We seek to prove that we are a serious contender doing the correct procedures on the race track. Once we prove that our credentials are solid, then we want to show improvement from there on.”
Pilot Selection and Team Building Drive
In late summer they contracted Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their pilots for the 2026 season, a duo remarkable for their invaluable experience in operating at the sharp end in two of the sport’s biggest teams, the Red Bull team and Mercedes, and the Finnish driver reflected the mood of fighting spirit.
“Naturally, we are pragmatic,” he commented. “We face a massive task to do, and it’s going to be most likely a difficult start, because it is F1. But we aren't joining to finish last. I am confident with this structure, with this group, these people, it's entirely possible we can't manage to advance swiftly up to the pace and enjoy some success.”
To realize that ambition hiring has been in top gear, with staff now reaching more than 400 and intended to attain the target of 600 members rapidly. Alongside their existing facility at Silverstone, the team are in the process of finishing an main base at Fishers in Indy and there is the GM works in North Carolina, where they are building the plant to manufacture the new engine, scheduled for 2029 – until then they will use power from Ferrari – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a complex organisation, at odds with the direction in F1 for increased consolidation, and has inspired the fresh organizational mindset to which the CTO referred.
NASA Blueprint
“It's closely based on the Apollo program,” stated Lowdon shortly before the British GP 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 the pressure is comparable.”
So they have adopted, as opposed to the traditional management structure, a non-hierarchical approach similar to that of NASA's, where there were a assortment of Apollo teams all working on various components of the mission in a multiple sites.
“In a system where you follow a process where an issue arises and they report it to their supervisor, that manager communicates with a supervisor at a different location, it travels back down, it’s super slow,” says Chester. “So we empower people to take charge. Eliminating management approval for everything is much smoother and quicker.”
The Future
The effectiveness of this agile methodology will be evaluated in the pressure of racing in 2026 and there is a significant degree riding on this for F1, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their development driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
