🔗 Share this article

Approximately twelve months previously at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last given the official approval as Formula One’s newest entrant for 2026. Building the team from scratch has entailed a frenetic operating tempo that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo program. As Formula One descends on Vegas this weekend, Cadillac know the clock is ticking.

The Race Against Time to Australia

At the final race of the championship to be hosted in the United States, with around a hundred days to go before they hit the circuit for the inaugural time 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 cognizant there will never be adequate time.

The technical director, Nick Chester, became part of the embryonic team in early 2023 shortly after it was formed, when the team were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its heart from that point and gets a amused expression when reflecting on the journey.

“You might get a brief moment looking back at what you have accomplished and think: ‘Incredible, how impressive what we’ve done in a short three-year period,’” he says. “But then the next minute you think: ‘Yes, there is still quite a lot to do.’”

A One-of-a-Kind Opportunity

Nick Chester achieved victories at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s championship-winning campaigns of 2005/2006 and was in control of engineering strategy at the then-new Mercedes Formula E team, but no other project has truly matched the mission of introducing the iconic American Cadillac brand, a factory team backed by the owner, GM, into F1.

“Building an F1 team from the ground up, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he observes. “There's nothing comparable. In an established team you won't have the opportunity to transform team culture.”

With each day that goes by minds are more focused on the approaching moment of truth in Australia and expectations are being handled.

“It's reasonable to expect that a brand-new squad joining the grid is going to be last but just making it to the starting line will be an accomplishment in itself,” Graeme Lowdon commented this year and while Chester echoed this he thought the team had a reputation to build as well.

“The first thing we intend to prove is that we deserve to be there,” he emphasizes. “So we arrive and we perform competently. We aim to demonstrate that we’re a proper team doing the right things on the circuit. When we have demonstrated that we are a legitimate team, then we will focus on improvement after that.”

Racing Talent and Team Building Push

In August they contracted Sergio Pérez and Bottas as their racers for the 2026 season, a tandem notable for their priceless expertise in competing at the leading positions in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes, and the Finnish driver expressed the attitude of determined optimism.

“Of course, we have a realistic outlook,” he commented. “We have a mountain of work to do, and it will likely be almost certainly a challenging beginning, because it is F1. But we aren't joining to finish last. I am confident with this setup, with these individuals, these personnel, there is every reason that we won't be able to advance swiftly to the front and enjoy some success.”

To realize that ambition recruitment has been in top gear, with employees now reaching in excess of 400 and planned to reach the objective of 600 members quickly. In addition to their present headquarters at the Silverstone circuit, the team are in the phase of completing an headquarters at Fishers, Indiana in Indy and there is the GM works in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are building the facility to build the 2029 engine, set for the 2029 season – until then they will operate with Ferrari power units – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne, Germany. It is a intricate organisation, at odds with the trend in the sport for greater centralisation, and has prompted the new cultural approach to which Chester referred.

Apollo Inspiration

“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo program,” said Lowdon just before the British Grand Prix in mid-season. “We have a clear-eyed view, we know 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 adopted, as opposed to the traditional management structure, a flat management structure comparable to that of NASA's, where there were a assortment of specialist groups all working on different aspects of the project across a multiple sites.

“If you have to go through a procedure where an issue arises and they raise it up to their supervisor, that manager talks to a supervisor in another department, it travels back down, it’s super slow,” says Nick Chester. “So we empower team members to handle things directly. Avoiding managerial sign-off for each action is so much cleaner and faster.”

Upcoming Challenges

The effectiveness of this flexible approach will be proven in the pressure of racing in 2026 and there is a significant degree at stake for Formula One, too. Cadillac have signed as their reserve driver the young American Colton Herta