Just over a full year ago at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were at last granted the go-ahead as Formula One’s newest entrant for the 2026 season. Establishing the organization from nothing has entailed a frenetic pace of work that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo program. As the sport converges on the Vegas strip this race weekend, Cadillac understand time is getting tight.
The Race Against Time to Australia
At the final race of the campaign to be held in the United States, with around three months to go before they take to the track for the first time in Australia at the 2026 opener, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a monumental task, they are cognizant there will never be sufficient time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, became part of the newly formed operation in March 2023 soon after it was formed, when the team were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its heart since then and enjoys a amused expression when thinking about the journey.
“There might be a brief moment reflecting at what you’ve done and go: ‘Amazing, how impressive what we’ve done in a short three-year period,’” Chester states. “Then the very next instant you think: ‘Yes, we still have a great deal to do.’”
An Unprecedented Opportunity
The CTO enjoyed success at the Renault team in Alonso's title-winning seasons of 2005/2006 and was in control of technical direction at the then-new Mercedes electric racing team, but nothing has truly matched the task of bringing the iconic American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the corporate entity, General Motors, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Creating an F1 team from nothing, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he says. “It's unparalleled. In an established team you rarely get the chance to transform organizational mindset.”
With every day that goes by focus are sharper on the looming critical moment in the Australian GP and expectations are being handled.
“You have to assume that any new team joining the grid is likely to start at the back but merely participating will be an achievement in itself,” Lowdon noted recently and while the CTO agreed with this sentiment he believed the team had a statement to make as well.
“The first thing we aim to demonstrate is that we belong on the grid,” he emphasizes. “So we turn up and we function efficiently. We want to show that we’re a proper team executing the proper actions on the circuit. Once we have demonstrated that we’re really credible, then we will focus on forward movement from there on.”
Racing Talent and Hiring Effort
In August they signed Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas as their racers for 2026, a pair remarkable for their invaluable experience in performing at the leading positions in two top-tier teams, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes-AMG, and Valtteri Bottas echoed the mood of fighting spirit.
“Naturally, we are pragmatic,” he said. “We have a massive task to do, and it’s going to be most likely a challenging beginning, because it is F1. But we’re not there to stay at the back. I believe with this structure, with this team, these personnel, there is every reason that we won't be able to progress rapidly to the front and enjoy some success.”
To achieve that goal hiring has been in top gear, with personnel now up to over 400 and planned to hit the target of 600 members swiftly. Alongside their existing facility at the Silverstone circuit, the team are in the midst of completing an HQ at Fishers in Indianapolis and there is the GM works in North Carolina, where they are building the center to build the 2029 engine, scheduled for 2029 – until then they will operate with Ferrari power units – and the aerodynamic facility in Germany. It is a intricate structure, contrary to the trend in the sport for greater centralisation, and has led to the fresh organizational mindset to which the CTO referred.
Apollo Inspiration
“It's closely based on the NASA moon mission,” said the team principal just before the British Grand Prix in the summer. “We’re realistic, we understand how tough it is. The deadlines, they’re super, super, super short. Alright, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have embraced, instead of the usual hierarchical system, a flat management structure similar to that of NASA's, where there were a range of Apollo teams all tackling different aspects of the program across a variety of locations.
“If you have to go through a protocol where a challenge emerges and they report it to their manager, that leader communicates with a supervisor at a different location, it travels back down, the process is very slow,” says Chester. “We give authority to people to really get on with it. Eliminating management approval for everything is much smoother and quicker.”
The Future
The effectiveness of this agile strategy will be tested in the pressure of racing next season and there is no little amount riding on this for Formula One, too. Cadillac have signed as their reserve driver the young American Colton Herta
