Approximately twelve months in the past at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately awarded the green light as F1's newest entry for the 2026 season. Building the organization from scratch has involved a intense pace of work that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo program. As the sport converges on Las Vegas this race weekend, the team understand time is getting tight.
The Countdown to Australia
At the season finale of the campaign to be held in the America, with around 100 days to go before they take to the track for the inaugural time in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a never-ending challenge, they are cognizant there will never be enough hours in the day.
The technical director, Nick Chester, became part of the nascent operation in March 2023 not long after it was created, when the organization were without even an approved entry. He has been at its center ever since and enjoys a wry smile when reflecting on the experience.
“You might get a brief moment reflecting at what the team has achieved and say: ‘Incredible, what an achievement what we’ve done in under three years,’” he says. “But then the very next instant you think: ‘Yeah, there is still quite a lot to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Task
Nick Chester achieved victories at the Renault team in the driver Fernando Alonso's title-winning years of 2005/2006 and was in control of engineering strategy at the new Mercedes electric racing team, but nothing has truly matched the mission of launching the quintessentially American Cadillac brand, a factory team sponsored by the owner, GM, into F1.
“Building an Formula One team from scratch, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” Chester remarks. “It's unparalleled. In an existing team you rarely get the opportunity to alter cultural approach.”
With each passing day that passes focus are more focused on the impending critical moment in Australia and expectations are being handled.
“You have to assume that any incoming team entering the sport is probably going to finish last but just making it to the starting line will be an accomplishment in itself,” Lowdon stated this year and while Chester shared this view he felt the team had a point to prove as well.
“The initial objective we aim to demonstrate is that we should be there,” he says. “So we show up and we operate well. We seek to prove that this is a professional operation doing the correct procedures on the race track. Once we prove that we are a legitimate team, then we will focus on improvement after that.”
Driver Lineup and Recruitment Effort
In late summer they contracted Checo Pérez and Valtteri as their racers for 2026, a duo distinguished for their invaluable experience in competing at the sharp end in two championship-winning squads, the Red Bull team and Mercedes-AMG, and Valtteri Bottas expressed the sentiment of fighting spirit.
“Of course, we’re realistic,” he said. “There’s going to be a mountain of work to do, and it will likely be almost certainly a challenging beginning, because it is F1. But we aren't joining to finish last. I am confident given this organization, with this group, this staff, there’s no reason why we can't manage to progress rapidly up to the pace and achieve good results.”
To achieve that goal recruitment has been in full swing, with personnel now reaching more than 400 and intended to attain the target of six hundred swiftly. Complementing their existing facility at the UK base, the squad are in the phase of finishing an HQ at Fishers, Indiana in Indianapolis and there is the GM works in North Carolina, where they are developing the facility to produce the 2029 engine, planned for the 2029 season – until then they will use Ferrari power units – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a intricate structure, different from the trend in Formula One for increased consolidation, and has inspired the innovative team culture to which Nick Chester alluded.
Space Mission Model
“It's closely based on the Apollo project,” stated the team principal just before the British GP in the summer. “We are pragmatic, we understand how difficult it is. The timelines, are incredibly tight. Alright, it's not a space expedition, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have implemented, instead of the traditional management structure, a flat management structure comparable to that of Nasa’s, where there were a variety of Apollo teams all focusing on different aspects of the project in a multiple sites.
“If you have to go through a procedure where an issue arises and they report it to their supervisor, that manager consults a leader at a different location, it is relayed back, it becomes inefficient,” explains Chester. “We give authority to staff to handle things directly. Moving away from management approval for all decisions is so much cleaner and more rapid.”
What Lies Ahead
The effectiveness of this flexible strategy will be evaluated in the heat of competition in 2026 and there is a considerable amount at stake for the sport, too. Cadillac have signed as their development driver the young American Colton Herta
