Approximately twelve months previously at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were at last granted the go-ahead as Formula One’s newest participant for 2026. Constructing the team from nothing has involved a frenetic work rate that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo moon landing. As Formula One converges on Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac know the deadline is approaching.
The Tight Timeline to Melbourne
At the last event of the championship to be held in the America, with just over a hundred days to go before they take to the track for the maiden outing in Australia at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a monumental endeavor, they are cognizant there will not be adequate time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, joined the newly formed team in the spring of 2023 soon after it was established, when the squad were without even an official entry. He has been at its heart from that point and has a amused expression when thinking about the ride.
“There might be five minutes looking back at what you’ve done and think: ‘Wow, isn’t this fantastic what we have built in less than three years,’” he says. “But then the next minute you think: ‘Well, we’ve still got a great deal to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Opportunity
Nick Chester enjoyed success at Renault in Alonso's title-winning seasons of 2005 and 2006 and was in command of engineering strategy at the recently formed Mercedes Formula E team, but no previous experience has quite compared with the challenge of bringing the iconic American Cadillac brand, a works entry sponsored by the owner, General Motors, into Formula One.
“Establishing an Formula One team from nothing, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he says. “It's unparalleled. In an existing team you rarely get the possibility to transform organizational mindset.”
With each passing day that elapses thoughts are more focused on the impending decisive point in the Australian GP and targets are being managed.
“You have to assume that any new team entering the sport is probably going to finish last but just making it to the starting line will be an feat in itself,” the team principal stated this year and while the CTO agreed with this sentiment he thought the squad had a statement to make as well.
“Our primary goal we intend to prove is that we belong on the grid,” Chester explains. “So that we show up and we operate well. We want to show that we are a serious contender performing the right things on the race track. When we have demonstrated that we are a legitimate team, then we will focus on forward movement subsequently.”
Driver Lineup and Team Building Push
In late summer they contracted Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas as their pilots for the 2026 season, a pair remarkable for their invaluable experience in performing at the leading positions in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes, and Valtteri Bottas expressed the attitude of combative optimism.
“Certainly, we are pragmatic,” he said. “There’s going to be a huge amount of work to do, and we expect almost certainly a difficult start, because it's the top level of motorsport. But our goal isn't to finish last. I am confident given this organization, with this team, these personnel, there is every reason that we can't manage to progress rapidly to the front and taste victory.”
To that end recruitment has been in full swing, with personnel now at over 400 and scheduled to reach the objective of 600 members rapidly. Complementing their present headquarters at Silverstone, the squad are in the midst of building an headquarters at Fishers in Indianapolis and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are constructing the facility to manufacture the 2029 engine, set for 2029 – until then they will run power from Ferrari – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a sophisticated organization, contrary to the movement in F1 for increased consolidation, and has led to the new cultural approach to which Nick Chester alluded.
Apollo Inspiration
“It's closely based on the Apollo program,” stated Lowdon just before the British GP in the summer. “We’re realistic, we understand how challenging it is. The schedules, they’re super, super, super short. Well, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have embraced, instead of the conventional chain of command, a flat management structure similar to that of NASA's, where there were a variety of Apollo teams all tackling various components of the program in a variety of locations.
“When you must follow a protocol where an issue arises and they report it to their manager, that leader communicates with a manager in another department, it is relayed back, it becomes inefficient,” notes the CTO. “Therefore we enable people to take charge. Avoiding management approval for each action is much smoother and faster.”
Upcoming Challenges
The effectiveness of this flexible methodology will be tested in the pressure of racing when the season begins and there is no little amount at stake for Formula One, too. Cadillac have taken on as their reserve driver the young Californian Colton Herta
