A little more than one year previously at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately granted the official approval as the world of Formula One's newest entrant for the 2026 season. Building the squad from the ground up has required a frenetic pace of work that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo moon landing. As Formula One converges on Las Vegas this race weekend, the team know the deadline is approaching.
The Countdown to Australia
At the last event of the season to be hosted in the America, with approximately a hundred days to go before they make their debut for the first time in Melbourne at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a monumental endeavor, they are cognizant there will not be adequate time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, became part of the newly formed operation in the spring of 2023 shortly after it was created, when the organization were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its heart from that point and has a wry smile when thinking about the ride.
“You might get a brief moment reflecting at what you have accomplished and say: ‘Incredible, how impressive what we have built in less than three years,’” Chester states. “But then the following moment you consider: ‘Well, there is still quite a lot to do.’”
A Unique Challenge
The CTO had success at the Renault team in Alonso's victorious years of 2005 and 2006 and was in control of technical direction at the recently formed Mercedes electric racing team, but no previous experience has truly matched the challenge of introducing the all-American Cadillac name, a factory team backed by the parent company, GM, into F1.
“Creating an Formula One team from scratch, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he observes. “There's nothing comparable. In an established team you rarely get the opportunity to alter cultural approach.”
With each passing day that goes by minds are more focused on the impending decisive point in Melbourne and expectations are being managed.
“It's reasonable to expect that a brand-new squad joining the grid is likely to start at the back but just making it to the starting line will be an accomplishment in itself,” Graeme Lowdon stated recently and while Chester agreed with this sentiment he thought the organization had a reputation to build as well.
“The first thing we intend to prove is that we should be there,” Chester explains. “So that we arrive and we operate well. We want to show that this is a professional operation doing the correct procedures on the circuit. After we’ve shown that we are a legitimate team, then we aim to demonstrate progression after that.”
Racing Talent and Team Building Drive
In the summer they contracted Checo Pérez and Valtteri as their racers for the 2026 season, a tandem distinguished for their vast knowledge in operating at the front in two top-tier teams, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes, and the Finnish driver echoed the attitude of determined optimism.
“Of course, we are pragmatic,” he said. “We have a huge amount of work to do, and it’s going to be almost certainly a difficult start, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we’re not there to remain at the rear. In my view with this structure, with this group, these people, there is every reason that we shouldn’t be able to advance swiftly to the front and taste victory.”
To realize that ambition hiring has been in full swing, with staff now reaching over 400 and planned to reach the objective of 600 members swiftly. In addition to their present headquarters at the UK base, the squad are in the midst of building an headquarters at Fishers in the Indianapolis area and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are developing the plant to build the power unit, set for 2029 – for now they will operate with power from Ferrari – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne. It is a complex organization, different from the trend in the sport for greater centralisation, and has prompted the fresh organizational mindset to which Nick Chester referred to.
Apollo Model
“It's closely based on the Apollo program,” remarked Lowdon shortly before the Silverstone race in the summer. “We have a clear-eyed view, we know how challenging it is. The schedules, are incredibly tight. OK, it's not a space expedition, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have adopted, as opposed to the traditional management structure, a decentralized management similar to that of the space agency's, where there were a assortment of specialist groups all focusing on different aspects of the mission at a variety of locations.
“If you have to go through a process where a challenge emerges and they raise it up to their supervisor, that supervisor communicates with a supervisor somewhere else, it goes back down the chain, it’s super slow,” says Chester. “We give authority to team members to really get on with it. Eliminating managerial sign-off for everything is so much cleaner and more rapid.”
Upcoming Challenges
The success of this nimble approach will be tested in the pressure of racing in 2026 and there is a considerable amount at stake for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their test driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
