Approximately twelve months in the past at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were at last awarded the go-ahead as Formula One’s newest entry for the 2026 season. Establishing the team from nothing has entailed a hectic work rate that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo program. As the sport converges on Las Vegas this race weekend, the team are aware the clock is ticking.
The Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the final race of the season to be staged in the US, with just over 100 days to go before they take to the track for the first time in Australia at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a sisyphean challenge, they are cognizant there will not be enough hours in the day.
The technical director, Nick Chester, joined the embryonic team in the spring of 2023 soon after it was established, when the organization were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its core from that point and enjoys a amused expression when reflecting on the experience.
“You might get a short period reflecting at what the team has achieved and think: ‘Amazing, isn’t this fantastic what we’ve done in under three years,’” he notes. “Then the next minute you realize: ‘Yeah, we’ve still got a significant amount to do.’”
An Unprecedented Opportunity
The CTO enjoyed success at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s victorious campaigns of 2005 and 2006 and was in command of technical direction at the recently formed Mercedes Formula E team, but no other project has been quite like the mission of launching the quintessentially American Cadillac name, a works entry sponsored by the owner, General Motors Corporation, into F1.
“Building an F1 team from the ground up, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he observes. “It's unparalleled. In an established team you don’t get the chance to alter team culture.”
With each day that goes by thoughts are more focused on the looming moment of truth in Australia and targets are being handled.
“You have to assume that a brand-new squad entering the sport is probably going to finish last but just making it to the starting line will be an accomplishment in itself,” Graeme Lowdon noted earlier this year and while Chester shared this view he believed the squad had a point to prove as well.
“Our primary goal we intend to prove is that we deserve to be there,” Chester explains. “So that we show up and we perform competently. We seek to prove that we’re a proper team performing the correct procedures on the track. Once we prove that we’re really credible, then we will focus on forward movement subsequently.”
Pilot Selection and Team Building Drive
In late summer they contracted Sergio Pérez and Bottas as their racers for 2026, a duo remarkable for their vast knowledge in competing at the leading positions in two top-tier teams, the Red Bull team and the Mercedes team, and the Finnish driver reflected the attitude of fighting spirit.
“Certainly, we’re realistic,” he said. “We face a massive task to do, and it’s going to be most likely a difficult start, because it is F1. But we aren't joining to remain at the rear. In my view with this setup, with this team, this staff, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to advance swiftly up to the pace and achieve good results.”
To realize that ambition hiring has been in top gear, with employees now reaching more than 400 and scheduled to reach the objective of 600 members quickly. In addition to their existing facility at the UK base, the organization are in the process of finishing an headquarters at Fishers, Indiana in Indianapolis and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are constructing the facility to produce the 2029 engine, scheduled for the 2029 season – for now they will run Ferrari engines – and the aerodynamic facility in Germany. It is a intricate organization, contrary to the direction in F1 for greater centralisation, and has prompted the fresh organizational mindset to which Nick Chester referred.
Apollo Inspiration
“We've drawn heavily from the NASA moon mission,” stated Lowdon just before the British Grand Prix in mid-season. “We have a clear-eyed view, we know how tough it is. The deadlines, they’re super, super, super short. Well, it's not a space expedition, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have embraced, rather than the conventional chain of command, a flat management structure comparable to that of NASA's, where there were a assortment of Apollo teams all tackling distinct elements of the project in a multiple sites.
“In a system where you follow a procedure where an issue arises and they escalate it to their team leader, that leader talks to a leader in another department, it goes back down the chain, it’s super slow,” explains the CTO. “So we empower team members to take charge. Moving away from hierarchical consent for everything is much smoother and quicker.”
Upcoming Challenges
The effectiveness of this nimble strategy will be proven in the heat of competition in 2026 and there is a considerable amount at stake for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their development driver the young Californian Colton Herta
