Just over one year previously at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately granted the green light as F1's newest entry for the 2026 season. Building the squad from scratch has required a frenetic work rate that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo moon landing. As the sport converges on Vegas this weekend, the team know the deadline is approaching.
The Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the last event of the season to be held in the US, with approximately 100 days to go before they take to the track for the first time in Australia at the first race of 2026, the Cadillac F1 project have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a never-ending challenge, they are cognizant there will never be enough hours in the day.
The CTO, Nick Chester, became part of the embryonic team in early 2023 soon after it was created, when the team were without even an approved entry. He has been at its core from that point and gets a knowing grin when reflecting on the ride.
“There might be a brief moment reflecting at what you’ve done and go: ‘Amazing, how impressive what we have built in a short three-year period,’” he notes. “Then the very next instant you realize: ‘Yeah, we’ve still got quite a lot to do.’”
An Unprecedented Opportunity
The CTO had success at Renault in Alonso's victorious years of 2005/2006 and was in command of technical development at the new Mercedes electric racing team, but nothing has truly matched the challenge of bringing the quintessentially American Cadillac brand, a factory team backed by the parent company, General Motors, into Formula One.
“Creating an grand prix team from the ground up, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he observes. “It's unparalleled. In an well-set team you don’t get the possibility to change team culture.”
With each day that goes by thoughts are sharper on the approaching critical moment in Melbourne and expectations are being handled.
“You have to assume that a brand-new squad entering the sport is going to be last but merely participating will be an accomplishment in itself,” Lowdon noted recently and while Nick Chester shared this view he thought the organization had a reputation to build as well.
“Our primary goal we want to show is that we belong on the grid,” he says. “In order that we show up and we function efficiently. We want to show that we are a serious contender doing the correct procedures on the track. After we’ve shown that we’re really credible, then we will focus on forward movement after that.”
Racing Talent and Team Building Drive
In August they signed Sergio Perez and Bottas as their pilots for 2026, a pair notable for their invaluable experience in competing at the leading positions in two top-tier teams, Red Bull Racing and the Mercedes team, and the Finnish driver echoed the sentiment of combative optimism.
“Certainly, we are pragmatic,” he commented. “There’s going to be a mountain of work to do, and we expect almost certainly a difficult start, because it is F1. But we’re not there to remain at the rear. I am confident with this setup, with these individuals, this staff, it's entirely possible we shouldn’t be able to advance swiftly up to the pace and enjoy some success.”
To realize that ambition staff acquisition has been in top gear, with personnel now up to over 400 and scheduled to attain the objective of 600 members quickly. Complementing their existing facility at the UK base, the organization are in the phase of completing an main base at Fishers, Indiana in Indy and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, where they are building the center to produce the 2029 engine, scheduled for the 2029 season – until then they will use power from Ferrari – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne, Germany. It is a sophisticated organisation, different from the trend in the sport for increased consolidation, and has prompted the new cultural approach to which Nick Chester referred to.
Apollo Inspiration
“It's closely based on the NASA moon mission,” stated Graeme Lowdon shortly before the British Grand Prix in July. “We’re realistic, we understand how tough it is. The schedules, they’re super, super, super short. Well, it's not a space expedition, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have embraced, instead of the conventional chain of command, a decentralized management similar to that of Nasa’s, where there were a assortment of specialist groups all tackling different aspects of the project across a multiple sites.
“When you must follow a procedure where an issue arises and they report it to their team leader, that leader communicates with a supervisor at a different location, it is relayed back, the process is very slow,” says Nick Chester. “We give authority to team members to really get on with it. Avoiding hierarchical consent for each action is far more efficient and faster.”
What Lies Ahead
The efficacy of this flexible approach will be tested in the intensity of Grand Prix when the season begins and there is a significant degree at stake for F1, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their test driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
