Just over a full year in the past at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally granted the go-ahead as F1's latest participant for the 2026 season. Building the team from nothing has required a intense work rate that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo program. As the sport arrives on Las Vegas this weekend, Cadillac know the clock is ticking.
The Countdown to Australia
At the season finale of the championship to be held in the United States, with around three months to go before they hit the circuit for the first time in Melbourne at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a never-ending challenge, they are conscious there will never be adequate time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, became part of the newly formed operation in March 2023 not long after it was created, when the team were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its heart since then and gets a amused expression when reflecting on the ride.
“There might be five minutes looking back at what you’ve done and say: ‘Incredible, how impressive what the team has created in under three years,’” he says. “And then the following moment you realize: ‘Well, we still have a significant amount to do.’”
A Unique Task
Nick Chester had success at Renault in Alonso's victorious seasons of 2005/2006 and was in control of technical direction at the recently formed Mercedes electric racing team, but no previous experience has truly matched the task of introducing the iconic American Cadillac brand, a factory team supported by the owner, General Motors Corporation, into F1.
“Creating an Formula One team from nothing, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he says. “There's nothing comparable. In an existing team you don’t get the opportunity to transform cultural approach.”
With each day that elapses minds are more focused on the looming decisive point in Melbourne and targets are being managed.
“One must presume that a brand-new squad entering the sport is going to be last but just making it to the starting line will be an accomplishment in itself,” the team principal commented this year and while Chester agreed with this sentiment he felt the squad had a reputation to build as well.
“Our primary goal we want to show is that we deserve to be there,” Chester explains. “So we arrive and we perform competently. We want to show that we’re a proper team executing the proper actions on the track. Once we prove that we’re really credible, then we aim to demonstrate improvement from there on.”
Pilot Selection and Team Building Effort
In August they contracted Sergio Perez and Valtteri as their racers for 2026, a pair notable for their priceless expertise in performing at the front in two of the sport’s biggest teams, the Red Bull team and Mercedes, and Valtteri Bottas reflected the sentiment of combative optimism.
“Certainly, we’re realistic,” Bottas stated. “We have a mountain of work to do, and it’s going to be most likely a tough opening, because this is Formula One. But our goal isn't to remain at the rear. I believe with this setup, with this team, these personnel, there is every reason that we shouldn’t be able to progress rapidly up to the pace and enjoy some success.”
To achieve that goal staff acquisition has been in overdrive, with personnel now reaching in excess of 400 and intended to reach the goal of six hundred quickly. Alongside their present headquarters at Silverstone, the squad are in the midst of building an headquarters at Fishers in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM works in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are constructing the facility to manufacture the 2029 engine, planned for the 2029 season – until then they will run Ferrari power units – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a intricate structure, at odds with the direction in the sport for more centralization, and has inspired the fresh organizational mindset to which Nick Chester referred to.
Apollo Inspiration
“It's closely based on the Apollo program,” stated the team principal ahead of the British Grand Prix in the summer. “We have a clear-eyed view, we recognize how difficult it is. The timelines, are extremely compressed. Alright, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have implemented, instead of the usual hierarchical system, a decentralized management similar to that of NASA's, where there were a range of project teams all working on different aspects of the project at a variety of locations.
“If you have to go through a process where an issue arises and they raise it up to their team leader, that leader talks to a supervisor at a different location, it is relayed back, the process is very slow,” notes Chester. “So we empower staff to take charge. Eliminating hierarchical consent for all decisions is far more efficient and more rapid.”
Upcoming Challenges
The effectiveness of this nimble methodology will be evaluated in the heat of competition when the season begins and there is a considerable amount riding on this for F1, too. Cadillac have signed as their development driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta
