A little more than twelve months previously at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally awarded the green light as the world of Formula One's most recent entry for the 2026 season. Establishing the squad from scratch has required a hectic pace of work that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo program. As the sport converges on Las Vegas this weekend, Cadillac know the clock is ticking.
The Tight Timeline to Australia
At the season finale of the season to be staged in the America, with just over 100 days to go before they take to the track for the first time in Melbourne at the 2026 opener, the Cadillac F1 project have come on in leaps and bounds 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 team were without even an approved entry. He has been at its heart ever since and gets a wry smile when considering the experience.
“You can have a short period reflecting at what you have accomplished and go: ‘Wow, how impressive what the team has created in under three years,’” he says. “But then the very next instant you think: ‘Well, we still have quite a lot to do.’”
A Unique Task
Nick Chester achieved victories at Renault in Alonso's victorious years of 2005 and 2006 and was in charge of technical development at the new Mercedes electric racing team, but no other project has truly matched the task of launching the iconic American Cadillac brand, a manufacturer-backed entry sponsored by the corporate entity, GM, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Building an grand prix 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 won't have the possibility to change team culture.”
With every day that passes minds are increasingly concentrated on the looming critical moment in the Australian GP and goals are being set realistically.
“One must presume that a brand-new squad joining the grid is going to be last but merely participating will be an achievement in itself,” the team principal stated recently and while the CTO echoed this he felt the squad had a statement to make as well.
“The first thing we intend to prove is that we belong on the grid,” he says. “In order that we turn up and we operate well. We aim to demonstrate that this is a professional operation performing the correct procedures on the track. Once we prove that we’re really credible, then we want to show forward movement from there on.”
Driver Lineup and Recruitment Drive
In August they recruited Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their racers for 2026, a duo remarkable for their vast knowledge in competing at the sharp end in two top-tier teams, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes-AMG, and Valtteri Bottas reflected the mood of combative optimism.
“Naturally, we have a realistic outlook,” he commented. “We face a huge amount of work 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 believe with this setup, with these individuals, these personnel, there’s no reason why we won't be able to advance swiftly to the front and achieve good results.”
To realize that ambition hiring has been in overdrive, with staff now reaching in excess of 400 and scheduled to hit the goal of six hundred quickly. Complementing their current base at the Silverstone circuit, the organization are in the phase of finishing an headquarters at Fishers, Indiana in Indianapolis and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are constructing the facility to manufacture the new engine, planned for 2029 – until then they will operate with Ferrari engines – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a sophisticated organization, contrary to the direction in F1 for more centralization, and has led to the new cultural approach to which Chester alluded.
Space Mission Inspiration
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo program,” stated Lowdon shortly before the Silverstone race in mid-season. “We have a clear-eyed view, we recognize how tough it is. The deadlines, are incredibly tight. Well, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it can seem that way.”
So they have embraced, as opposed to the traditional management structure, a flat management structure similar to that of NASA's, where there were a variety of Apollo teams all focusing on different aspects of the program at a multiple sites.
“In a system where you follow a protocol where an issue arises and they escalate it to their supervisor, that supervisor communicates with a supervisor in another department, it is relayed back, it becomes inefficient,” explains Nick Chester. “Therefore we enable staff to really get on with it. Eliminating managerial sign-off for everything is far more efficient and quicker.”
What Lies Ahead
The success of this flexible approach will be tested in the pressure of racing in 2026 and there is a considerable amount at stake for Formula One, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their test driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta
