Just over one year ago at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally awarded the go-ahead as F1's most recent entry for 2026. Constructing the team from nothing has entailed a frenetic work rate that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo moon landing. As the sport converges on Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac know time is getting tight.
The Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the last event of the campaign to be staged in the US, with approximately three months to go before they hit the circuit for the maiden outing in Australia at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a sisyphean endeavor, they are conscious there will never be enough hours in the day.
The CTO, Nick Chester, came aboard the nascent team in early 2023 not long after it was created, when the squad were without even an official entry. He has been at its core from that point and gets a wry smile when considering the ride.
“You can have a short period reflecting at what the team has achieved and think: ‘Amazing, what an achievement what we have built in under three years,’” he notes. “But then the following moment you realize: ‘Yeah, there is still a great deal to do.’”
An Unprecedented Opportunity
Nick Chester achieved victories at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s title-winning years of 2005 and 2006 and was in charge of technical development at the recently formed Mercedes Formula E team, but no previous experience has quite compared with the mission of introducing the quintessentially American Cadillac brand, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the parent company, GM, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Establishing an Formula One team from the ground up, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he says. “There's nothing comparable. In an established team you don’t get the opportunity to transform team culture.”
With each passing day that elapses minds are sharper on the impending decisive point in Australia and expectations are being handled.
“One must presume that any new team joining the grid is likely to start at the back but simply getting on to the grid will be an achievement in itself,” Graeme Lowdon noted this year and while Nick Chester echoed this he thought the squad had a reputation to build as well.
“The first thing we want to show is that we belong on the grid,” Chester explains. “So we show up and we function efficiently. We seek to prove that we are a serious contender executing the proper actions on the circuit. When we have demonstrated that our credentials are solid, then we will focus on progression from there on.”
Racing Talent and Team Building Push
In August they signed Checo Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their racers for 2026, a duo notable for their invaluable experience in competing at the sharp end in two top-tier teams, Red Bull and Mercedes, and Valtteri Bottas echoed the attitude of fighting spirit.
“Naturally, we’re realistic,” he commented. “There’s going to be a huge amount of work to do, and we expect most likely a challenging beginning, because it is F1. But we aren't joining to finish last. In my view with this setup, with this group, this staff, there is every reason that we shouldn’t be able to get relatively quickly to a competitive level and enjoy some success.”
To that end staff acquisition has been in overdrive, with staff now at over 400 and planned to reach the goal of 600 members swiftly. Complementing their current base at Silverstone, the organization are in the phase of completing an main base at Fishers in Indy and there is the GM works in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are building the plant to build the 2029 engine, planned for the 2029 season – for now they will operate with Ferrari power units – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a intricate organisation, contrary to the movement in the sport for greater centralisation, and has inspired the innovative team culture to which Chester referred.
NASA Inspiration
“It's closely based on the Apollo program,” remarked Graeme Lowdon shortly before the British Grand Prix in the summer. “We are pragmatic, we recognize how challenging it is. The timelines, are extremely compressed. Alright, it's not a space expedition, but it can seem that way.”
So they have embraced, as opposed to the traditional management structure, a non-hierarchical approach comparable to that of the space agency's, where there were a range of project teams all focusing on different aspects of the mission at a multiple sites.
“When you must follow a procedure where a challenge emerges and they escalate it to their supervisor, that manager consults a supervisor in another department, it is relayed back, the process is very slow,” notes the CTO. “So we empower people to handle things directly. Eliminating hierarchical consent for all decisions is so much cleaner and more rapid.”
The Future
The efficacy of this nimble methodology will be proven in the intensity of Grand Prix next season and there is no little amount riding on this for the sport, too. Cadillac have taken on as their reserve driver the young American Colton Herta
