Approximately twelve months ago at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately granted the green light as Formula One’s latest entry for 2026. Building the squad from nothing has involved a intense operating tempo that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo program. As Formula One arrives on Las Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac are aware time is getting tight.
The Countdown to Australia
At the final race of the campaign to be hosted in the America, with just over three months to go before they take to the track for the first time in Australia at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a sisyphean challenge, they are aware there will not be adequate time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, joined the newly formed operation in the spring of 2023 not long after it was established, when the organization were without even an approved entry. He has been at its core from that point and enjoys a knowing grin when thinking about the ride.
“You can have five minutes thinking back at what you’ve done and say: ‘Wow, isn’t this fantastic what we’ve done in less than three years,’” Chester states. “But then the next minute you think: ‘Well, we still have quite a lot to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Opportunity
Chester achieved victories at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s title-winning seasons of 2005 and 2006 and was in charge of engineering strategy at the then-new Mercedes electric racing team, but no previous experience has been quite like the task of launching the quintessentially American Cadillac brand, a works entry sponsored by the corporate entity, GM, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Building an grand prix team from the ground up, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” Chester remarks. “It is like nothing else. In an established team you don’t get the chance to change cultural approach.”
With each passing day that goes by minds are sharper on the approaching moment of truth in the Australian GP and targets are being set realistically.
“You have to assume that a brand-new squad coming in is going to be last but just making it to the starting line will be an accomplishment in itself,” the team principal noted this year and while Nick Chester agreed with this sentiment he believed the squad had a statement to make as well.
“Our primary goal we aim to demonstrate is that we deserve to be there,” he emphasizes. “In order that we show up and we perform competently. We seek to prove that we’re a proper team executing the proper actions on the circuit. Once we’ve shown that we are a legitimate team, then we aim to demonstrate forward movement after that.”
Racing Talent and Team Building Drive
In late summer they recruited Sergio Pérez and Valtteri as their racers for the 2026 season, a duo notable for their vast knowledge in operating at the sharp end in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull and Mercedes-AMG, and the Finnish driver echoed the sentiment of combative optimism.
“Of course, we are pragmatic,” Bottas stated. “We have a mountain of work to do, and it’s going to be almost certainly a tough opening, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we’re not there to finish last. I am confident with this structure, with these individuals, these personnel, it's entirely possible we can't manage to get relatively quickly to a competitive level and achieve good results.”
To achieve that goal staff acquisition has been in overdrive, with staff now at in excess of 400 and scheduled to hit the target of 600 quickly. In addition to their present headquarters at the Silverstone circuit, the team are in the phase of building an headquarters at Fishers in Indy and there is the GM works in North Carolina, where they are constructing the facility to build the new engine, scheduled for 2029 – until then they will run Ferrari power units – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Germany. It is a sophisticated structure, contrary to the trend in the sport for greater centralisation, and has inspired the fresh organizational mindset to which Chester referred to.
Apollo Model
“It's closely based on the Apollo project,” stated Graeme Lowdon just before the British Grand Prix in the summer. “We’re realistic, we understand how difficult it is. The deadlines, they’re super, super, super short. OK, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have embraced, as opposed to the conventional chain of command, a flat management structure comparable to that of Nasa’s, where there were a variety of project teams all working on various components of the project at a multiple sites.
“In a system where you follow a procedure where a challenge emerges and they raise it up to their supervisor, that leader communicates with a supervisor in another department, it goes back down the chain, it’s super slow,” explains Chester. “Therefore we enable people to take charge. Moving away from managerial sign-off for everything is far more efficient and more rapid.”
The Future
The efficacy of this flexible strategy will be evaluated in the heat of competition when the season begins and there is a considerable amount at stake for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have taken on as their test driver the emerging American Colton Herta
