A little more than one year ago at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were at last granted the green light as the world of Formula One's most recent entry for the 2026 season. Building the team from nothing has entailed a frenetic work rate that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo program. As the sport descends on the Vegas strip this race weekend, the team know time is getting tight.
The Tight Timeline to Australia
At the season finale of the campaign to be staged in the America, with just over 100 days to go before they hit the circuit for the maiden outing in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a never-ending challenge, they are conscious there will not be sufficient time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, came aboard the embryonic team in March 2023 shortly after it was formed, when the squad were without even an official entry. He has been at its center ever since and has a wry smile when considering the ride.
“You might get five minutes reflecting at what you have accomplished and say: ‘Wow, what an achievement what we have built in a short three-year period,’” he notes. “Then the very next instant you consider: ‘Yeah, we still have a significant amount to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Opportunity
Chester achieved victories at Renault in Alonso's championship-winning years of 2005/2006 and was in charge of engineering strategy at the new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no other project has quite compared with the challenge of introducing the iconic American Cadillac name, a factory team sponsored by the parent company, General Motors, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Creating an F1 team from the ground up, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” Chester remarks. “It's unparalleled. In an existing team you won't have the chance to change team culture.”
With each passing day that passes minds are sharper on the approaching moment of truth in the Australian GP and goals are being set realistically.
“One must presume that any new team joining the grid is probably going to finish last but simply getting on to the grid will be an feat in itself,” Lowdon noted earlier this year and while Nick Chester shared this view he thought the team had a statement to make as well.
“The first thing we intend to prove is that we belong on the grid,” Chester explains. “In order that we arrive and we function efficiently. We seek to prove that we are a serious contender doing the right things on the race track. After we’ve shown that we’re really credible, then we want to show progression from there on.”
Driver Lineup and Hiring Effort
In late summer they contracted Sergio Perez and Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a pair distinguished for their vast knowledge in competing at the leading positions in two top-tier teams, Red Bull and Mercedes, and Valtteri Bottas echoed the sentiment of fighting spirit.
“Of course, we’re realistic,” Bottas stated. “We face a huge amount of work to do, and it will likely be probably a difficult start, because it is F1. But our goal isn't to stay at the back. In my view with this setup, with this team, this staff, there is every reason that we shouldn’t be able to progress rapidly up to the pace and achieve good results.”
To realize that ambition hiring has been in overdrive, with employees now at in excess of 400 and planned to reach the target of 600 swiftly. Alongside their current base at the Silverstone circuit, the organization are in the phase of completing an headquarters at Fishers, Indiana in Indy and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, where they are developing the facility to produce the new engine, scheduled for 2029 – in the meantime they will run Ferrari power units – and the aerodynamic facility in Germany. It is a sophisticated structure, at odds with the direction in the sport for more centralization, and has prompted the new cultural approach to which the CTO alluded.
Apollo Blueprint
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo program,” said Graeme Lowdon ahead of the Silverstone race in mid-season. “We’re realistic, we know how tough it is. The schedules, are incredibly tight. Alright, it's not a space expedition, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have embraced, rather than the usual hierarchical system, a flat management structure comparable to that of NASA's, where there were a range of Apollo teams all focusing on different aspects of the program in a variety of locations.
“When you must follow a procedure where a challenge emerges and they escalate it to their supervisor, that leader communicates with a leader in another department, it is relayed back, it’s super slow,” notes Chester. “So we empower people to take charge. Moving away from hierarchical consent for all decisions is much smoother and quicker.”
What Lies Ahead
The efficacy of this agile approach will be tested in the intensity of Grand Prix in 2026 and there is a significant degree at stake for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their development driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta
