Just over one year ago at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately given the official approval as the world of Formula One's latest entry for 2026. Establishing the team from scratch has entailed a intense work rate that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo program. As F1 arrives on Vegas this race weekend, the team are aware the deadline is approaching.
The Tight Timeline to Melbourne
At the final race of the season to be staged in the United States, with around three months to go before they take to the track for the first time in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a never-ending task, they are cognizant there will not be enough hours in the day.
The CTO, Nick Chester, came aboard the embryonic operation in the spring of 2023 soon after it was established, when the team were without even an official entry. He has been at its heart since then and enjoys a amused expression when thinking about the experience.
“There might be a brief moment looking back at what you have accomplished and think: ‘Incredible, what an achievement what we have built in under three years,’” Chester states. “But then the following moment you consider: ‘Yes, there is still a significant amount to do.’”
A Unique Challenge
The CTO achieved victories at Renault in Alonso's title-winning seasons of 2005/2006 and was in charge of technical development at the recently formed Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no other project has quite compared with the challenge of introducing the quintessentially American Cadillac marque, a works entry sponsored by the parent company, General Motors Corporation, into Formula One.
“Establishing an F1 team from the ground up, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he observes. “It's unparalleled. In an established team you don’t get the possibility to change cultural approach.”
With each day that passes focus are more focused on the impending decisive point in the Australian GP and goals are being set realistically.
“One must presume that any new team coming in is likely to start at the back but merely participating will be an accomplishment in itself,” the team principal commented recently and while Nick Chester agreed with this sentiment he thought the squad had a point to prove as well.
“Our primary goal we want to show is that we deserve to be there,” he emphasizes. “In order that we show up and we function efficiently. We seek to prove that we’re a proper team executing the correct procedures on the circuit. After we have demonstrated that we are a legitimate team, then we will focus on progression after that.”
Racing Talent and Team Building Push
In the summer they signed Checo Pérez and Valtteri as their racers for 2026, a pair notable for their priceless expertise in competing at the leading positions in two of the sport’s biggest teams, the Red Bull team and Mercedes-AMG, and Bottas echoed the sentiment of combative optimism.
“Of course, we are pragmatic,” Bottas stated. “We face a mountain of work to do, and it’s going to be most likely a tough opening, because it is F1. But our goal isn't to remain at the rear. In my view with this setup, with this team, these people, there is every reason that we can't manage to get relatively quickly to the front and taste victory.”
To realize that ambition recruitment has been in overdrive, with personnel now reaching more than 400 and planned to attain the goal of 600 swiftly. In addition to their existing facility at the UK base, the team are in the midst of completing an HQ at Fishers in Indianapolis and there is the GM works in North Carolina, where they are building the center to produce the 2029 engine, scheduled for 2029 – until then they will run Ferrari power units – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne. It is a complex organization, different from the trend in the sport for increased consolidation, and has inspired the fresh organizational mindset to which the CTO referred to.
Apollo Blueprint
“It's closely based on the NASA moon mission,” remarked Graeme Lowdon shortly before the British Grand Prix in mid-season. “We’re realistic, we know how tough it is. The schedules, are incredibly tight. Alright, it's not a space expedition, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have implemented, as opposed to the conventional chain of command, a flat management structure similar to that of Nasa’s, where there were a assortment of Apollo teams all working on different aspects of the program across a multiple sites.
“In a system where you follow a process where someone has a problem and they escalate it to their manager, that supervisor consults a manager at a different location, it travels back down, it’s super slow,” explains Chester. “Therefore we enable team members to take charge. Eliminating managerial sign-off for everything is much smoother and faster.”
The Future
The efficacy of this agile strategy will be evaluated in the heat of competition in 2026 and there is a significant degree riding on this for F1, too. Cadillac have recruited as their test driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
