🔗 Share this article

Just over one year previously at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally awarded the green light as the world of Formula One's newest participant for the 2026 season. Establishing the squad from the ground up has involved a frenetic pace of work that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo program. As F1 arrives on Las Vegas this race weekend, the team understand the clock is ticking.

The Countdown to Australia

At the season finale of the championship to be staged in the America, with just over a hundred days to go before they make their debut for the first time in Australia at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a never-ending endeavor, they are cognizant there will not be enough hours in the day.

The technical director, Nick Chester, came aboard the embryonic team in March 2023 shortly after it was created, when the squad were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its heart since then and enjoys a amused expression when considering the journey.

“You might get a short period reflecting at what you’ve done and think: ‘Amazing, what an achievement what we have built in a short three-year period,’” Chester states. “And then the following moment you realize: ‘Yeah, there is still a great deal to do.’”

An Unprecedented Challenge

Nick Chester achieved victories at Renault in Alonso's victorious seasons of 2005/2006 and was in control of technical direction at the new Mercedes Formula E team, but no other project has truly matched the mission of bringing the iconic American Cadillac brand, a works entry sponsored by the parent company, General Motors, into Formula One.

“Creating an F1 team from scratch, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” Chester remarks. “It's unparalleled. In an well-set team you don’t get the opportunity to alter cultural approach.”

With each passing day that goes by minds are increasingly concentrated on the impending critical moment in Melbourne and expectations are being managed.

“One must presume that any incoming team entering the sport is probably going to finish last but simply getting on to the grid will be an feat 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 want to show is that we deserve to be there,” he says. “So we turn up and we operate well. We seek to prove that this is a professional operation executing the proper actions on the circuit. Once we have demonstrated that we’re really credible, then we will focus on progression after that.”

Pilot Selection and Recruitment Push

In the summer they signed Checo Pérez and Valtteri as their pilots for the 2026 season, a duo notable for their vast knowledge in competing at the front in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull and the Mercedes team, and the Finnish driver reflected the attitude of combative optimism.

“Naturally, we’re realistic,” Bottas stated. “We have a massive task to do, and we expect probably a tough opening, because this is Formula One. But we aren't joining to remain at the rear. I am confident given this organization, with this team, these personnel, it's entirely possible we shouldn’t be able to progress rapidly up to the pace and enjoy some success.”

To achieve that goal hiring has been in top gear, with personnel now at more than 400 and planned to reach the goal of 600 quickly. Complementing their present headquarters at Silverstone, the squad are in the midst of building an HQ at the Fishers location in Indianapolis and there is the GM works in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are constructing the facility to build the power unit, scheduled for 2029 – for now they will run Ferrari engines – and the aerodynamic facility in Germany. It is a sophisticated organisation, contrary to the direction in F1 for greater centralisation, and has led to the innovative team culture to which Nick Chester referred to.

Space Mission Blueprint

“It's closely based on the Apollo program,” remarked Graeme Lowdon shortly before the British Grand Prix in July. “We are pragmatic, we recognize how tough it is. The timelines, are incredibly tight. Alright, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it feels like it sometimes.”

So they have adopted, instead of the usual hierarchical system, a non-hierarchical approach similar to that of the space agency's, where there were a assortment of specialist groups all focusing on different aspects of the program at a multiple sites.

“In a system where you follow a process where someone has a problem and they report it to their supervisor, that supervisor talks to a manager somewhere else, it travels back down, the process is very slow,” notes Nick Chester. “So we empower staff to handle things directly. Moving away from management approval for all decisions is much smoother and more rapid.”

The Future

The success of this flexible methodology will be tested in the intensity of Grand Prix next season and there is a considerable amount riding on this for the sport, too. Cadillac have signed as their test driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta