A little more than a full year ago at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately given the green light as F1's most recent entrant for 2026. Constructing the organization from the ground up has entailed a frenetic work rate that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo moon landing. As F1 descends on Las Vegas this weekend, the team know the deadline is approaching.
The Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the season finale of the season to be hosted in the US, with around 100 days to go before they take to the track for the maiden outing in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a never-ending endeavor, they are cognizant there will not be enough hours in the day.
The CTO, Nick Chester, joined the embryonic team in early 2023 not long after it was formed, when the organization were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its heart ever since and enjoys a wry smile when thinking about the journey.
“There might be a brief moment thinking back at what you have accomplished and say: ‘Wow, how impressive what the team has created in less than three years,’” Chester states. “But then the next minute you realize: ‘Yeah, we’ve still got quite a lot to do.’”
A Unique Task
Nick Chester enjoyed success at the Renault team in Alonso's title-winning campaigns of 2005 and 2006 and was in charge of technical direction at the new Mercedes Formula E team, but nothing has quite compared with the mission of introducing the iconic American Cadillac name, a works entry supported by the parent company, General Motors Corporation, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Establishing an grand prix team from the ground up, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” Chester remarks. “There's nothing comparable. In an existing team you don’t get the possibility to alter team culture.”
With each passing day that goes by focus are sharper on the looming decisive point in Australia and goals are being set realistically.
“It's reasonable to expect that a brand-new squad entering the sport is likely to start at the back but just making it to the starting line will be an accomplishment in itself,” the team principal commented earlier this year and while Chester shared this view he thought the squad had a statement to make as well.
“The initial objective we aim to demonstrate is that we belong on the grid,” he says. “So we arrive and we perform competently. We seek to prove that this is a professional operation doing the right things on the circuit. After we’ve shown that we are a legitimate team, then we want to show improvement after that.”
Driver Lineup and Team Building Effort
In August they contracted Checo Pérez and Valtteri as their racers for 2026, a duo remarkable for their invaluable experience in competing at the leading positions in two championship-winning squads, the Red Bull team and Mercedes, and Valtteri Bottas expressed the attitude of fighting spirit.
“Of course, we have a realistic outlook,” he said. “We have a massive task to do, and we expect most likely a difficult start, because it is F1. But we aren't joining to stay at the back. I believe with this structure, with this group, these people, there’s no reason why we won't be able to progress rapidly to a competitive level and taste victory.”
To realize that ambition hiring has been in full swing, with employees now up to in excess of 400 and intended to hit the goal of 600 rapidly. Alongside their present headquarters at Silverstone, the team are in the phase of completing an main base at the Fishers location in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM plant in North Carolina, where they are constructing the facility to produce the new engine, planned for the 2029 season – for now they will use power from Ferrari – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne, Germany. It is a sophisticated organisation, contrary to the trend in F1 for more centralization, and has inspired the innovative team culture to which Chester alluded.
Space Mission Blueprint
“It's closely based on the Apollo program,” remarked Lowdon shortly before the Silverstone race in July. “We’re realistic, we know how challenging it is. The deadlines, are incredibly tight. Well, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it can seem that way.”
So they have embraced, rather than the usual hierarchical system, a flat management structure comparable to that of the space agency's, where there were a range of project teams all focusing on different aspects of the program in a different facilities.
“When you must follow a protocol where someone has a problem and they report it to their supervisor, that leader communicates with a leader at a different location, it is relayed back, it becomes inefficient,” explains Nick Chester. “Therefore we enable people to handle things directly. Avoiding management approval for everything is far more efficient and more rapid.”
What Lies Ahead
The effectiveness of this agile approach will be proven in the heat of competition in 2026 and there is no little amount riding on this for F1, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their development driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta
