Approximately twelve months in the past at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately given the go-ahead as Formula One’s most recent entrant for the 2026 season. Establishing the team from the ground up has involved a intense work rate that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo program. As Formula One descends on Vegas this weekend, Cadillac are aware the clock is ticking.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the last event of the season to be hosted in the US, with around a hundred days to go before they take to the track for the maiden outing in Australia at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a never-ending endeavor, they are aware there will not be adequate time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, came aboard the nascent operation in early 2023 shortly after it was formed, when the squad were without even an approved entry. He has been at its core since then and enjoys a wry smile when reflecting on the experience.
“There might be a short period reflecting at what you have accomplished and think: ‘Incredible, what an achievement what we have built in a short three-year period,’” Chester states. “Then the very next instant you consider: ‘Yes, we still have quite a lot to do.’”
A Unique Opportunity
Nick Chester enjoyed success at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s title-winning seasons of 2005/2006 and was in control of technical development at the new Mercedes electric racing team, but no other project has truly matched the task of launching the iconic American Cadillac name, a factory team backed by the owner, General Motors Corporation, into F1.
“Establishing an grand prix team from scratch, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he observes. “It's unparalleled. In an existing team you won't have the possibility to change team culture.”
With each passing day that goes by focus are more focused on the impending decisive point in Australia and expectations are being managed.
“You have to assume that any new team coming in is likely to start at the back but just making it to the starting line will be an accomplishment in itself,” Graeme Lowdon stated earlier this year and while Nick Chester echoed this he thought the team had a statement to make as well.
“Our primary goal we aim to demonstrate is that we should be there,” Chester explains. “So we show up and we function efficiently. We seek to prove that we’re a proper team doing the right things on the track. When we’ve shown that our credentials are solid, then we want to show improvement subsequently.”
Racing Talent and Team Building Push
In the summer they contracted Checo Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their racers for 2026, a tandem remarkable for their invaluable experience in operating at the front in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull Racing and the Mercedes team, and the Finnish driver echoed the mood of combative optimism.
“Certainly, we are pragmatic,” he commented. “We face a huge amount of work to do, and we expect probably a challenging beginning, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we aren't joining to remain at the rear. I believe with this structure, with this team, these people, there is every reason that we can't manage to get relatively quickly up to the pace and achieve good results.”
To that end hiring has been in top gear, with employees now reaching in excess of 400 and planned to reach the target of 600 rapidly. Complementing their present headquarters at Silverstone, the organization are in the process of finishing an main base at the Fishers location in Indy and there is the GM plant in North Carolina, where they are developing the center to produce the 2029 engine, planned for 2029 – until then they will run Ferrari engines – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Germany. It is a complex organization, different from the direction in the sport for more centralization, and has led to the fresh organizational mindset to which Nick Chester referred to.
Apollo Model
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo program,” said Graeme Lowdon just before the Silverstone race in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we know how difficult it is. The timelines, are incredibly tight. Well, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it can seem that way.”
So they have embraced, as opposed to the traditional management structure, a non-hierarchical approach similar to that of the space agency's, where there were a assortment of project teams all tackling different aspects of the project at a different facilities.
“When you must follow a protocol where an issue arises and they raise it up to their manager, that supervisor consults a leader in another department, it is relayed back, it becomes inefficient,” says Chester. “We give authority to team members to really get on with it. Eliminating hierarchical consent for everything is much smoother and more rapid.”
What Lies Ahead
The effectiveness of this nimble methodology will be tested in the heat of competition when the season begins and there is a considerable amount at stake for Formula One, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their development driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta
