Just over one year in the past at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally awarded the go-ahead as F1's latest entrant for 2026. Constructing the team from scratch has involved a hectic work rate that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo moon landing. As Formula One arrives on Las Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac understand the deadline is approaching.
The Countdown to Australia
At the last event of the season to be hosted in the United States, with around 100 days to go before they make their debut for the inaugural time in Australia at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a sisyphean challenge, they are aware there will not be enough hours in the day.
The CTO, Nick Chester, became part of the embryonic team in early 2023 shortly after it was created, when the squad were without even an official entry. He has been at its heart from that point and enjoys a knowing grin when reflecting on the experience.
“You might get a short period looking back at what you’ve done and say: ‘Incredible, isn’t this fantastic what we have built in less than three years,’” he says. “But then the next minute you think: ‘Yeah, we still have a significant amount to do.’”
An Unprecedented Opportunity
Chester achieved victories at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s victorious campaigns of 2005 and 2006 and was in charge of engineering strategy at the then-new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no previous experience has been quite like the mission of bringing the all-American Cadillac marque, a factory team supported by the corporate entity, General Motors Corporation, into Formula One.
“Creating an F1 team from scratch, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he observes. “There's nothing comparable. In an well-set team you rarely get the opportunity to transform cultural approach.”
With each day that passes thoughts are increasingly concentrated on the impending critical moment in the Australian GP and goals are being set realistically.
“One must presume that a brand-new squad entering the sport is likely to start at the back but simply getting on to the grid will be an feat in itself,” Lowdon stated earlier this year and while Nick Chester echoed this he believed the team had a reputation to build as well.
“Our primary goal we intend to prove is that we should be there,” Chester explains. “So that we show up and we function efficiently. We aim to demonstrate that we are a serious contender executing the correct procedures on the track. Once we have demonstrated that we’re really credible, then we will focus on progression subsequently.”
Pilot Selection and Team Building Effort
In late summer they recruited Sergio Perez and Valtteri as their pilots for 2026, a tandem notable for their priceless expertise in competing at the front in two of the sport’s biggest teams, the Red Bull team and Mercedes-AMG, and Bottas echoed the attitude of determined optimism.
“Certainly, we are pragmatic,” he commented. “We have a huge amount of work to do, and we expect most likely a tough opening, because this is Formula One. But we aren't joining to remain at the rear. I am confident with this structure, with this group, these personnel, there is every reason that we shouldn’t be able to get relatively quickly to a competitive level and enjoy some success.”
To that end staff acquisition has been in top gear, with personnel now at over 400 and planned to reach the goal of six hundred rapidly. In addition to their current base at the Silverstone circuit, the organization are in the phase of building an headquarters at Fishers in Indy and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are constructing the plant to produce the new engine, set for 2029 – until then they will use Ferrari power units – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a sophisticated structure, at odds with the direction in the sport for greater centralisation, and has led to the innovative team culture to which Nick Chester alluded.
Apollo Model
“It’s highly modelled on the NASA moon mission,” said the team principal just before the Silverstone race in mid-season. “We are pragmatic, we recognize how challenging it is. The schedules, are incredibly tight. OK, it's not a space expedition, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have implemented, as opposed to the traditional management structure, a decentralized management comparable to that of Nasa’s, where there were a range of Apollo teams all focusing on various components of the program in a different facilities.
“When you must follow a protocol where an issue arises and they raise it up to their team leader, that manager talks to a leader at a different location, it is relayed back, it’s super slow,” explains Nick Chester. “Therefore we enable staff to handle things directly. Avoiding management approval for each action is much smoother and faster.”
What Lies Ahead
The efficacy of this nimble strategy will be tested in the intensity of Grand Prix next season and there is a significant degree at stake for F1, too. Cadillac have taken on as their test driver the young Californian Colton Herta