A little more than twelve months previously at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were at last granted the go-ahead as F1's newest entrant for the 2026 season. Establishing the squad from scratch has involved a hectic work rate that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo program. As F1 converges on Las Vegas this weekend, the team understand the deadline is approaching.
The Tight Timeline to Melbourne
At the season finale of the season to be held in the United States, with approximately 100 days to go before they make their debut for the maiden outing in Australia at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a sisyphean task, they are cognizant there will never be sufficient time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, joined the nascent team in the spring of 2023 shortly after it was formed, when the team were without even an approved entry. He has been at its core ever since and has a knowing grin when reflecting on the ride.
“There might be a short period thinking back at what you’ve done and think: ‘Amazing, isn’t this fantastic what the team has created in under three years,’” Chester states. “But then the very next instant you think: ‘Yeah, there is still quite a lot to do.’”
A Unique Task
The CTO had success at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s championship-winning years of 2005 and 2006 and was in control of technical direction at the then-new Mercedes electric racing team, but no previous experience has been quite like the task of launching the iconic American Cadillac marque, a works entry backed by the parent company, General Motors Corporation, into F1.
“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 won't have the possibility to change cultural approach.”
With each passing day that goes by focus are sharper on the looming critical moment in Australia and targets are being managed.
“One must presume that any incoming team entering the sport is probably going to finish last but simply getting on to the grid will be an feat in itself,” Graeme Lowdon commented recently and while Chester agreed with this sentiment he thought the team had a point to prove as well.
“The initial objective we want to show is that we deserve to be there,” he says. “So we show up and we perform competently. We aim to demonstrate that this is a professional operation doing the correct procedures on the race track. When we’ve shown that we’re really credible, then we want to show forward movement after that.”
Racing Talent and Team Building Push
In late summer they recruited Sergio Perez and Valtteri as their drivers for the 2026 season, a pair distinguished for their vast knowledge in competing at the leading positions in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes-AMG, and the Finnish driver echoed the mood of combative optimism.
“Of course, we’re realistic,” he said. “We face a mountain of work to do, and we expect most likely a tough opening, because this is Formula One. But we aren't joining to finish last. In my view with this setup, with this group, this staff, there’s no reason why we can't manage to progress rapidly to a competitive level and achieve good results.”
To achieve that goal recruitment has been in top gear, with personnel now reaching over 400 and planned to hit the target of 600 members rapidly. In addition to their current base at the Silverstone circuit, the team are in the midst of finishing an main base at the Fishers location in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM works in North Carolina, where they are building the facility to produce the power unit, planned for 2029 – for now they will use power from Ferrari – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a sophisticated structure, at odds with the trend in Formula One for more centralization, and has inspired the innovative team culture to which the CTO referred to.
NASA Blueprint
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo program,” said Lowdon ahead of the Silverstone race in mid-season. “We have a clear-eyed view, we recognize how challenging it is. The schedules, are incredibly tight. Well, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have embraced, as opposed to the conventional chain of command, a flat management structure comparable to that of Nasa’s, where there were a assortment of project teams all tackling distinct elements of the mission in a different facilities.
“In a system where you follow a protocol where a challenge emerges and they raise it up to their supervisor, that leader communicates with a leader in another department, it is relayed back, the process is very slow,” explains Chester. “We give authority to people to really get on with it. Eliminating managerial sign-off for each action is much smoother and more rapid.”
Upcoming Challenges
The efficacy of this flexible strategy will be evaluated in the pressure of racing next season and there is a considerable amount at stake for F1, too. Cadillac have signed as their reserve driver the young American Colton Herta
