Approximately a full year in the past at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately given the go-ahead as the world of Formula One's latest entrant for 2026. Establishing the squad from scratch has entailed a intense pace of work that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo program. As the sport descends on Las Vegas this race weekend, the team are aware time is getting tight.
The Tight Timeline to Melbourne
At the final race of the championship to be staged in the United States, with around 100 days to go before they make their debut for the first time in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a sisyphean endeavor, they are aware there will not be sufficient time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, became part of the newly formed team in the spring of 2023 soon after it was established, when the team were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its heart from that point and enjoys a wry smile when thinking about the experience.
“There might be five minutes thinking back at what you have accomplished and think: ‘Incredible, what an achievement what the team has created in less than three years,’” Chester states. “And then the following moment you consider: ‘Yeah, we still have a significant amount to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Challenge
The CTO had success at the Renault team in the driver Fernando Alonso's victorious seasons of 2005/2006 and was in control of engineering strategy at the new Mercedes Formula E team, but nothing has been quite like the mission of bringing the all-American Cadillac marque, a works entry supported by the parent company, General Motors, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Building an F1 team from the ground up, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he observes. “There's nothing comparable. In an established team you rarely get the chance to alter cultural approach.”
With each passing day that passes focus are sharper on the looming moment of truth in the Australian GP and goals are being managed.
“You have to assume that any new team coming in is likely to start at the back but simply getting on to the grid will be an achievement in itself,” Lowdon stated this year and while the CTO echoed this he thought the squad had a point to prove as well.
“The first thing we want to show is that we deserve to be there,” he emphasizes. “So that we turn up and we perform competently. We aim to demonstrate that this is a professional operation performing the right things on the circuit. Once we’ve shown that our credentials are solid, then we will focus on progression from there on.”
Racing Talent and Team Building Effort
In late summer they contracted Checo Pérez and Bottas as their pilots for the 2026 season, a tandem distinguished for their invaluable experience in competing at the sharp end in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull Racing and the Mercedes team, and the Finnish driver echoed the sentiment of determined optimism.
“Of course, we have a realistic outlook,” he commented. “We face a mountain of work to do, and it will likely be almost certainly a difficult start, because it's the top level of motorsport. But our goal isn't to finish last. In my view with this structure, with these individuals, these people, it's entirely possible we shouldn’t be able to advance swiftly up to the pace and enjoy some success.”
To that end hiring has been in full swing, with staff now up to more than 400 and planned to attain the target of 600 rapidly. Complementing their existing facility at Silverstone, the organization are in the process of completing an HQ at Fishers, Indiana in Indy and there is the General Motors facility in North Carolina, where they are constructing the plant to manufacture the power unit, set for 2029 – until then they will run Ferrari engines – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a intricate structure, contrary to the trend in Formula One for greater centralisation, and has inspired the new cultural approach to which the CTO alluded.
Space Mission Inspiration
“It's closely based on the Apollo program,” remarked Graeme Lowdon just before the British Grand Prix in July. “We’re realistic, we know how tough it is. The schedules, are incredibly tight. Alright, it's not a space expedition, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have embraced, rather than the conventional chain of command, a non-hierarchical approach comparable to that of the space agency's, where there were a variety of project teams all tackling distinct elements of the program at a variety of locations.
“When you must follow a protocol where someone has a problem and they report it to their supervisor, that supervisor consults a supervisor in another department, it travels back down, it’s super slow,” notes Chester. “We give authority to people to take charge. Eliminating hierarchical consent for all decisions is far more efficient and faster.”
What Lies Ahead
The effectiveness of this agile approach will be tested in the heat of competition in 2026 and there is a significant degree at stake for the sport, too. Cadillac have signed as their reserve driver the young Californian Colton Herta
