Approximately one year ago at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last granted the official approval as the world of Formula One's newest entry for the 2026 season. Building the team from nothing has entailed a frenetic work rate that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo moon landing. As Formula One converges on the Vegas strip this race weekend, the team know the clock is ticking.
The Countdown to Australia
At the final race of the campaign to be held in the America, with just over a hundred days to go before they make their debut for the inaugural time in Australia at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a monumental challenge, they are aware there will never be sufficient time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, came aboard the embryonic team in early 2023 soon after it was established, when the team were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its heart ever since and has a knowing grin when thinking about the experience.
“There might be a short period looking back at what you have accomplished and say: ‘Wow, how impressive what we’ve done in less than three years,’” Chester states. “But then the very next instant you think: ‘Yes, there is still a significant amount to do.’”
A Unique Challenge
Nick Chester had success at Renault in the driver Fernando Alonso's championship-winning years of 2005 and 2006 and was in control of technical direction at the then-new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but nothing has quite compared with the mission of introducing the all-American Cadillac brand, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the parent company, GM, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Building an grand prix team from nothing, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he says. “It is like nothing else. In an well-set team you rarely get the opportunity to transform cultural approach.”
With every day that elapses thoughts are more focused on the approaching moment of truth in the Australian GP and targets are being managed.
“One must presume that any incoming team 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 stated this year and while the CTO agreed with this sentiment he believed the organization had a statement to make as well.
“The first thing we intend to prove is that we should be there,” he emphasizes. “So that we arrive and we operate well. We seek to prove that we are a serious contender executing the correct procedures on the circuit. When we have demonstrated that our credentials are solid, then we want to show progression from there on.”
Pilot Selection and Recruitment Effort
In August they signed Checo Pérez and Valtteri as their racers for 2026, a duo remarkable for their priceless expertise in competing at the leading positions in two top-tier teams, the Red Bull team and Mercedes, and Bottas echoed the sentiment of determined optimism.
“Naturally, we have a realistic outlook,” Bottas stated. “We have a huge amount of work to do, and it’s going to be almost certainly a difficult start, because it is F1. But we’re not there to finish last. I am confident with this setup, with this team, these people, it's entirely possible we shouldn’t be able to advance swiftly to a competitive level and enjoy some success.”
To that end staff acquisition has been in top gear, with personnel now reaching over 400 and planned to reach the goal of 600 members quickly. Complementing their current base at Silverstone, the organization are in the process of finishing an HQ at the Fishers location in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM plant in North Carolina, where they are developing the plant to manufacture the 2029 engine, scheduled for the 2029 season – in the meantime they will operate with power from Ferrari – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Germany. It is a complex structure, at odds with the direction in the sport for increased consolidation, and has led to the innovative team culture to which Nick Chester referred to.
NASA Blueprint
“It's closely based on the Apollo program,” remarked Graeme Lowdon ahead of the British GP in July. “We are pragmatic, we recognize how tough it is. The schedules, are extremely compressed. Alright, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have implemented, instead of the usual hierarchical system, a non-hierarchical approach similar to that of Nasa’s, where there were a variety of Apollo teams all tackling various components of the program at a variety of locations.
“In a system where you follow a procedure where a challenge emerges and they report it to their supervisor, that supervisor consults a supervisor somewhere else, it travels back down, the process is very slow,” explains Chester. “Therefore we enable team members to really get on with it. Avoiding hierarchical consent for each action is so much cleaner and more rapid.”
What Lies Ahead
The success of this flexible approach will be proven in the intensity of Grand Prix when the season begins and there is a considerable amount at stake for F1, too. The Cadillac team have taken on as their reserve driver the emerging American Colton Herta
