Just over a full year previously at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally granted the green light as F1's most recent entrant for 2026. Establishing the organization from the ground up has entailed a intense operating tempo that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo moon landing. As F1 arrives on Las Vegas this weekend, Cadillac know time is getting tight.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the last event of the campaign to be hosted in the America, with around a hundred days to go before they make their debut for the first time in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a sisyphean endeavor, they are aware there will not be enough hours in the day.
The CTO, Nick Chester, joined the newly formed operation in the spring of 2023 shortly after it was formed, when the team were without even an official entry. He has been at its heart from that point and enjoys a amused expression when reflecting on the experience.
“You might get a short period thinking back at what you have accomplished and say: ‘Wow, how impressive what we’ve done in less than three years,’” he notes. “And then the next minute you realize: ‘Yeah, there is still a great deal to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Task
Nick Chester had success at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s victorious campaigns of 2005 and 2006 and was in control of engineering strategy at the then-new Mercedes Formula E team, but no other project has truly matched the task of introducing the all-American Cadillac marque, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the parent company, General Motors, into F1.
“Creating an grand prix team from the ground up, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” Chester remarks. “It is like nothing else. In an existing team you rarely get the opportunity to alter organizational mindset.”
With every day that passes focus are sharper on the approaching moment of truth in Australia and goals are being handled.
“One must presume that any incoming team joining the grid is going to be last but merely participating will be an accomplishment in itself,” Graeme Lowdon stated this year and while Nick Chester shared this view he thought the team had a point to prove as well.
“The initial objective we intend to prove is that we belong on the grid,” he emphasizes. “So that we turn up and we perform competently. We seek to prove that we are a serious contender doing the right things on the track. After we have demonstrated that our credentials are solid, then we aim to demonstrate progression subsequently.”
Driver Lineup and Recruitment Drive
In late summer they signed Sergio Perez and Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a duo remarkable for their vast knowledge in performing at the leading positions in two top-tier teams, Red Bull and Mercedes, and the Finnish driver expressed the sentiment of determined optimism.
“Naturally, we are pragmatic,” Bottas stated. “There’s going to be a massive task to do, and it will likely be most likely a challenging beginning, because it is F1. But our goal isn't to remain at the rear. In my view given this organization, with this group, these people, there’s no reason why we won't be able to get relatively quickly up to the pace and taste victory.”
To realize that ambition hiring has been in overdrive, with staff now reaching more than 400 and intended to reach the goal of 600 members rapidly. Alongside their existing facility at the UK base, the team are in the midst of finishing an HQ at Fishers in Indianapolis and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, where they are building the facility to manufacture the power unit, set for 2029 – for now they will use Ferrari engines – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne. It is a intricate structure, at odds with the direction in the sport for more centralization, and has inspired the fresh organizational mindset to which the CTO referred.
Apollo Blueprint
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo program,” said Lowdon just before the British Grand Prix in July. “We’re realistic, we understand how difficult it is. The timelines, are incredibly tight. OK, it's not a space expedition, but it can seem that way.”
So they have implemented, instead of the usual hierarchical system, a non-hierarchical approach akin to that of the space agency's, where there were a range of Apollo teams all tackling different aspects of the mission across a multiple sites.
“In a system where you follow a protocol where a challenge emerges and they report it to their supervisor, that manager consults a manager in another department, it is relayed back, it becomes inefficient,” notes Nick Chester. “So we empower staff to really get on with it. Eliminating managerial sign-off for everything is far more efficient and faster.”
Upcoming Challenges
The efficacy of this nimble approach will be proven in the pressure of racing when the season begins and there is a significant degree riding on this for F1, too. The Cadillac team have taken on as their reserve driver the young Californian Colton Herta
