Just over twelve months ago at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were at last given the go-ahead as F1's most recent entry for 2026. Building the team from the ground up has required a intense pace of work that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo program. As F1 converges on the Vegas strip this race weekend, the team understand time is getting tight.
The Countdown to Australia
At the last event of the championship to be hosted in the United States, with around three months to go before they take to the track for the first time in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a never-ending task, they are aware there will not be enough hours in the day.
The technical director, Nick Chester, became part of the nascent operation in the spring of 2023 not long after it was established, when the squad were without even an approved entry. He has been at its heart ever since and enjoys a amused expression when reflecting on the journey.
“You can have a brief moment reflecting at what you’ve done and think: ‘Wow, how impressive what we have built in under three years,’” he notes. “Then the very next instant you think: ‘Well, we’ve still got a significant amount to do.’”
An Unprecedented Task
Nick Chester achieved victories at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s championship-winning seasons of 2005/2006 and was in command of engineering strategy at the then-new Mercedes Formula E team, but nothing has been quite like the mission of introducing the all-American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the parent company, GM, into Formula One.
“Creating an Formula One team from nothing, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” Chester remarks. “It's unparalleled. In an established team you don’t get the opportunity to alter organizational mindset.”
With each day that passes minds are sharper on the approaching decisive point in Melbourne and targets are being managed.
“It's reasonable to expect that a brand-new squad entering the sport is probably going to finish last but just making it to the starting line will be an feat in itself,” Graeme Lowdon noted earlier this year and while Nick Chester shared this view he believed the team had a statement to make as well.
“The first thing we want to show is that we deserve to be there,” he says. “In order that we show up and we function efficiently. We want to show that we’re a proper team performing the right things on the race track. After we prove that we are a legitimate team, then we aim to demonstrate improvement subsequently.”
Pilot Selection and Team Building Drive
In late summer they signed Sergio Perez and Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a tandem notable for their priceless expertise in performing at the leading positions in two top-tier teams, the Red Bull team and the Mercedes team, and Bottas echoed the mood of fighting spirit.
“Certainly, we have a realistic outlook,” Bottas stated. “We have a massive task to do, and it’s going to be almost certainly a difficult start, because this is Formula One. But we’re not there to finish last. In my view with this structure, with these individuals, these personnel, there’s no reason why we won't be able to advance swiftly to a competitive level and achieve good results.”
To that end recruitment has been in full swing, with personnel now reaching over 400 and planned to reach the goal of 600 quickly. In addition to their existing facility at Silverstone, the team are in the process of completing an HQ at Fishers in Indy and there is the GM plant in North Carolina, where they are building the center to produce the new engine, planned for the 2029 season – for now they will operate with power from Ferrari – and the aerodynamic facility in Germany. It is a sophisticated organisation, different from the direction in F1 for increased consolidation, and has prompted the innovative team culture to which Nick Chester referred.
Space Mission Blueprint
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo project,” said Lowdon shortly before the British Grand Prix in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we understand how tough it is. The deadlines, are extremely compressed. Well, it's not a space expedition, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have implemented, as opposed to the traditional management structure, a flat management structure comparable to that of NASA's, where there were a variety of specialist groups all focusing on distinct elements of the project at a different facilities.
“When you must follow a procedure where an issue arises and they raise it up to their supervisor, that manager consults a manager in another department, it is relayed back, the process is very slow,” notes Nick Chester. “We give authority to team members to handle things directly. Moving away from managerial sign-off for each action is so much cleaner and more rapid.”
Upcoming Challenges
The success of this nimble approach will be evaluated in the pressure of racing in 2026 and there is a significant degree riding on this for Formula One, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their reserve driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta
