Just over twelve months in the past at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately granted the green light as Formula One’s newest entrant for the 2026 season. Constructing the squad from the ground up has involved a intense work rate that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo moon landing. As Formula One descends on Las Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac understand time is getting tight.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the last event of the season to be hosted in the America, with just over 100 days to go before they take to the track for the inaugural time in Australia at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a never-ending challenge, they are aware there will never be adequate time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, became part of the embryonic operation in early 2023 not long after it was created, when the organization were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its core ever since and gets a wry smile when reflecting on the experience.
“You can have five minutes looking back at what the team has achieved and think: ‘Amazing, what an achievement what we have built in under three years,’” he notes. “And then the following moment you consider: ‘Yes, we still have a great deal to do.’”
A Unique Task
The CTO enjoyed success at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s championship-winning seasons of the mid-2000s and was in command of engineering strategy at the recently formed Mercedes electric racing team, but nothing has been quite like the challenge of launching the all-American Cadillac marque, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the parent company, General Motors, into Formula One.
“Establishing an F1 team from the ground up, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” Chester remarks. “There's nothing comparable. In an well-set team you don’t get the chance to change team culture.”
With each day that goes by focus are sharper on the impending decisive point in the Australian GP and expectations 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 feat in itself,” Graeme Lowdon stated earlier this year and while the CTO shared this view he believed the team had a reputation to build as well.
“The first thing we intend to prove is that we deserve to be there,” he emphasizes. “In order that we arrive and we perform competently. We aim to demonstrate that we are a serious contender doing the correct procedures on the race track. When we prove that we are a legitimate team, then we want to show forward movement from there on.”
Racing Talent and Team Building Effort
In late summer they signed Sergio Pérez and Valtteri as their pilots for the 2026 season, a duo notable for their priceless expertise in operating at the leading positions in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull and the Mercedes team, and Bottas reflected the mood of determined optimism.
“Naturally, we are pragmatic,” he commented. “There’s going to be a massive task to do, and it’s going to be almost certainly a tough opening, because it is F1. But we aren't joining to remain at the rear. I am confident with this setup, with these individuals, this staff, there is every reason that we shouldn’t be able to advance swiftly to a competitive level and taste victory.”
To achieve that goal recruitment has been in full swing, with personnel now at in excess of 400 and intended to attain the goal of 600 quickly. Complementing their present headquarters at the Silverstone circuit, the organization are in the process of finishing an HQ at Fishers, Indiana in Indy and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, where they are developing the center to manufacture the power unit, scheduled for the 2029 season – until then they will use Ferrari engines – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Germany. It is a sophisticated organization, contrary to the trend in the sport for increased consolidation, and has led to the innovative team culture to which Chester referred.
Apollo Inspiration
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo project,” stated Lowdon just before the Silverstone race in mid-season. “We’re realistic, we understand how challenging it is. The deadlines, are incredibly tight. OK, it's not a space expedition, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have embraced, rather than the conventional chain of command, a flat management structure comparable to that of NASA's, where there were a range of specialist groups all focusing on various components of the project at a multiple sites.
“If you have to go through a protocol where an issue arises and they raise it up to their manager, that manager talks to a leader in another department, it travels back down, the process is very slow,” notes Nick Chester. “We give authority to team members to handle things directly. Moving away from hierarchical consent for each action is far more efficient and more rapid.”
Upcoming Challenges
The efficacy of this agile approach will be evaluated in the pressure of racing when the season begins and there is a significant degree at stake for the sport, too. Cadillac have taken on as their reserve driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
