Approximately one year previously at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally granted the official approval as Formula One’s most recent entrant for 2026. Constructing the team from nothing has required a hectic pace of work that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo moon landing. As the sport converges on Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac are aware the deadline is approaching.
The Tight Timeline to Melbourne
At the final race of the campaign to be staged in the United States, with around three months to go before they hit the circuit for the maiden outing in Australia at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a monumental endeavor, they are aware there will never be sufficient time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, came aboard the nascent project in the spring of 2023 soon after it was created, when the squad were without even an approved entry. He has been at its core since then and enjoys a amused expression when reflecting on the journey.
“There might be a brief moment thinking back at what you’ve done and think: ‘Amazing, isn’t this fantastic what we’ve done in a short three-year period,’” he notes. “Then the following moment you think: ‘Yes, there is still a great deal to do.’”
A Unique Challenge
Nick Chester enjoyed success at Renault in Alonso's championship-winning years of 2005/2006 and was in command of engineering strategy at the new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no previous experience has truly matched the mission of launching the quintessentially American Cadillac name, a factory team sponsored by the corporate entity, General Motors, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Building an Formula One team from scratch, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” Chester remarks. “It's unparalleled. In an established team you don’t get the chance to change organizational mindset.”
With each day that goes by minds are more focused on the impending moment of truth in the Australian GP and expectations are being set realistically.
“One must presume that any new team entering the sport is probably going to finish last but simply getting on to the grid will be an accomplishment in itself,” Graeme Lowdon commented earlier this year and while Chester shared this view he felt the squad had a reputation to build as well.
“Our primary goal we aim to demonstrate is that we should be there,” Chester explains. “So that we show up and we operate well. We aim to demonstrate that we are a serious contender executing the proper actions on the track. After we have demonstrated that our credentials are solid, then we aim to demonstrate progression subsequently.”
Racing Talent and Team Building Push
In late summer they recruited Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas as their pilots for the 2026 season, a pair notable for their vast knowledge in operating at the leading positions in two top-tier teams, the Red Bull team and Mercedes, and Bottas reflected the attitude of determined optimism.
“Certainly, we’re realistic,” Bottas stated. “We have a massive task to do, and it will likely be most likely a difficult start, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we’re not there to stay at the back. I believe given this organization, with this team, these personnel, there is every reason that we shouldn’t be able to advance swiftly to a competitive level and enjoy some success.”
To that end hiring has been in overdrive, with staff now at over 400 and intended to attain the target of six hundred quickly. In addition to their existing facility at the UK base, the organization are in the midst of finishing an headquarters at the Fishers location in Indy and there is the General Motors facility in North Carolina, where they are developing the center to produce the 2029 engine, planned for 2029 – in the meantime they will use Ferrari engines – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Germany. It is a complex organization, at odds with the direction in F1 for increased consolidation, and has led to the innovative team culture to which Nick Chester alluded.
NASA Inspiration
“It's closely based on the Apollo program,” remarked Lowdon just before the British Grand Prix in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we recognize how tough it is. The timelines, they’re super, super, super short. Alright, it's not a space expedition, but it can seem that way.”
So they have implemented, rather than the traditional management structure, a decentralized management akin to that of the space agency's, where there were a variety of project teams all working on various components of the mission across a multiple sites.
“If you have to go through a protocol where a challenge emerges and they raise it up to their team leader, that leader talks to a supervisor somewhere else, it travels back down, the process is very slow,” says the CTO. “So we empower staff to really get on with it. Moving away from hierarchical consent for each action is so much cleaner and quicker.”
Upcoming Challenges
The success of this nimble strategy will be proven in the intensity of Grand Prix in 2026 and there is a significant degree riding on this for F1, too. Cadillac have signed as their reserve driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta
