Approximately twelve months in the past at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately granted the official approval as Formula One’s newest participant for the 2026 season. Building the squad from nothing has required a hectic operating tempo that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo program. As Formula One arrives on Vegas this weekend, the team are aware the clock is ticking.
The Race Against Time to Australia
At the final race of the campaign to be hosted in the America, with approximately 100 days to go before they take to the track for the first time in Melbourne at the first race of 2026, the Cadillac F1 project have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a sisyphean task, they are aware there will never be sufficient time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, joined the embryonic project in March 2023 soon after it was created, when the organization were without even an official entry. He has been at its heart since then and enjoys a knowing grin when reflecting on the ride.
“There might be five minutes thinking back at what you’ve done and go: ‘Wow, how impressive what we’ve done in under three years,’” he notes. “Then the very next instant you consider: ‘Yeah, there is still quite a lot to do.’”
A Unique Task
Nick Chester had success at the Renault team in Alonso's title-winning seasons of 2005 and 2006 and was in command of technical development at the new Mercedes Formula E team, but no previous experience has been quite like the challenge of launching the iconic American Cadillac marque, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the owner, General Motors Corporation, into Formula One.
“Establishing an F1 team from nothing, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he says. “It's unparalleled. In an existing team you won't have the chance to alter organizational mindset.”
With each day that passes focus are sharper on the looming moment of truth in Melbourne and goals are being handled.
“It's reasonable to expect that any incoming team joining the grid is probably going to finish last but merely participating will be an feat in itself,” the team principal stated this year and while the CTO agreed with this sentiment he believed the organization had a point to prove as well.
“Our primary goal we aim to demonstrate is that we belong on the grid,” he says. “So that we arrive and we operate well. We aim to demonstrate that this is a professional operation performing the proper actions on the circuit. Once we’ve shown that we’re really credible, then we aim to demonstrate progression after that.”
Pilot Selection and Team Building Push
In late summer they signed Sergio Pérez and Valtteri as their drivers for the 2026 season, a pair notable for their vast knowledge in competing at the front in two top-tier teams, the Red Bull team and Mercedes-AMG, and Valtteri Bottas reflected the mood of determined optimism.
“Naturally, we’re realistic,” he commented. “We have a huge amount of work to do, and it will likely be probably a difficult start, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we aren't joining to stay at the back. In my view given this organization, with these individuals, this staff, it's entirely possible we can't manage to get relatively quickly up to the pace and enjoy some success.”
To achieve that goal recruitment has been in top gear, with staff now at in excess of 400 and intended to reach the target of 600 members swiftly. In addition to their present headquarters at the UK base, the organization are in the phase of finishing an HQ at Fishers, Indiana in Indianapolis and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are building the plant to manufacture the 2029 engine, scheduled for 2029 – for now they will use Ferrari engines – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a intricate organization, contrary to the direction in the sport for more centralization, and has led to the new cultural approach to which Nick Chester alluded.
Apollo Blueprint
“We've drawn heavily from the NASA moon mission,” stated Lowdon shortly before the British Grand Prix in the summer. “We are pragmatic, we know how challenging it is. The schedules, are incredibly tight. Alright, it's not a space expedition, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have embraced, rather than the traditional management structure, a decentralized management similar to that of NASA's, where there were a variety of Apollo teams all focusing on distinct elements of the mission across a variety of locations.
“In a system where you follow a procedure where a challenge emerges and they raise it up to their supervisor, that manager talks to a manager at a different location, it goes back down the chain, it becomes inefficient,” explains Nick Chester. “We give authority to team members to take charge. Moving away from managerial sign-off for everything is much smoother and quicker.”
Upcoming Challenges
The effectiveness of this agile approach will be evaluated in the heat of competition in 2026 and there is a significant degree on the line for F1, too. Cadillac have taken on as their test driver the young Californian Colton Herta
