Just over twelve months ago at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally given the official approval as the world of Formula One's most recent entrant for 2026. Constructing the team from the ground up has required a intense pace of work that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo moon landing. As the sport arrives on Vegas this race weekend, the team know time is getting tight.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the season finale of the championship to be staged in the America, with approximately 100 days to go before they make their debut for the maiden outing in Melbourne at the first race of 2026, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a monumental task, they are conscious there will never be enough hours in the day.
The CTO, Nick Chester, came aboard the newly formed project in early 2023 not long after it was formed, when the squad were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its heart from that point and enjoys a amused expression when thinking about the ride.
“You can have a short period thinking back at what you’ve done and say: ‘Incredible, what an achievement what we have built in under three years,’” he says. “Then the following moment you think: ‘Well, we still have a significant amount to do.’”
A Unique Challenge
Nick Chester achieved victories at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s victorious campaigns of 2005/2006 and was in command of technical direction at the recently formed Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no other project has truly matched the mission of introducing the iconic American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the owner, General Motors, into F1.
“Establishing an F1 team from nothing, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he says. “It's unparalleled. In an established team you won't have the possibility to alter organizational mindset.”
With every day that elapses focus are more focused on the looming critical moment in the Australian GP and expectations are being managed.
“You have to assume that any new team joining the grid is likely to start at the back but merely participating will be an accomplishment in itself,” Graeme Lowdon commented recently and while Chester agreed with this sentiment he thought the organization had a statement to make as well.
“The initial objective we intend to prove is that we belong on the grid,” he emphasizes. “In order that we show up and we operate well. We seek to prove that this is a professional operation performing the proper actions on the circuit. When we have demonstrated that we are a legitimate team, then we want to show progression from there on.”
Racing Talent and Team Building Drive
In the summer they contracted Sergio Pérez and Valtteri as their drivers for 2026, a duo notable for their vast knowledge in performing at the leading positions in two top-tier teams, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes-AMG, and the Finnish driver echoed the mood of combative optimism.
“Naturally, we are pragmatic,” he commented. “We face a huge amount of work to do, and it’s going to be probably a tough opening, because it is F1. But our goal isn't to stay at the back. In my view given this organization, with this group, these personnel, there is every reason that we can't manage to progress rapidly up to the pace and enjoy some success.”
To realize that ambition hiring has been in top gear, with personnel now up to more than 400 and planned to hit the target of 600 rapidly. Complementing their existing facility at Silverstone, the squad are in the midst of finishing an HQ at Fishers, Indiana in the Indianapolis area and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, where they are building the plant to manufacture the power unit, set for 2029 – until then they will operate with Ferrari power units – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Germany. It is a intricate structure, at odds with the trend in F1 for greater centralisation, and has led to the new cultural approach to which Nick Chester alluded.
Space Mission Inspiration
“It’s highly modelled on the NASA moon mission,” stated Lowdon shortly before the British Grand Prix in mid-season. “We’re realistic, we know how tough it is. The timelines, are extremely compressed. Alright, it's not a space expedition, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have implemented, rather than the traditional management structure, a non-hierarchical approach comparable to that of the space agency's, where there were a range of Apollo teams all focusing on different aspects of the project across a multiple sites.
“If you have to go through a protocol where someone has a problem and they raise it up to their manager, that manager consults a manager at a different location, it is relayed back, the process is very slow,” explains Chester. “We give authority to staff to handle things directly. Eliminating management approval for each action is so much cleaner and quicker.”
The Future
The efficacy of this agile approach will be proven in the intensity of Grand Prix when the season begins and there is a significant degree riding on this for F1, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their test driver the young American Colton Herta
