Approximately twelve months ago at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were at last granted the green light as Formula One’s newest participant for the 2026 season. Constructing the team from nothing has required a intense pace of work that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo moon landing. As Formula One arrives on the Vegas strip this race weekend, Cadillac understand the deadline is approaching.
The Race Against Time to Australia
At the last event of the campaign to be hosted in the US, with just over a hundred days to go before they make their debut for the inaugural time in Melbourne at the first race of 2026, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a monumental task, they are cognizant there will never be sufficient time.
The chief technical officer, 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 core since then and enjoys a knowing grin when considering the ride.
“You can have a brief moment looking back at what the team has achieved and say: ‘Amazing, isn’t this fantastic what the team has created in under three years,’” he says. “But then the following moment you realize: ‘Yes, we still have a great deal to do.’”
An Unprecedented Challenge
The CTO had success at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s victorious years of 2005 and 2006 and was in command of technical direction at the new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no previous experience has been quite like the challenge of bringing the all-American Cadillac brand, a factory team supported by the corporate entity, General Motors Corporation, into F1.
“Creating an grand prix team from nothing, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he says. “There's nothing comparable. In an established team you won't have the possibility to alter organizational mindset.”
With each day that elapses minds are more focused on the impending critical moment in Australia and targets are being set realistically.
“It's reasonable to expect that a brand-new squad coming in is likely to start at the back but simply getting on to the grid will be an feat in itself,” the team principal noted recently and while the CTO echoed this he thought the squad had a point to prove as well.
“Our primary goal we aim to demonstrate is that we belong on the grid,” Chester explains. “So that we arrive and we perform competently. We seek to prove that this is a professional operation doing the right things on the track. Once we prove that we’re really credible, then we aim to demonstrate improvement from there on.”
Racing Talent and Recruitment Push
In late summer they contracted Sergio Pérez and Valtteri as their drivers for 2026, a tandem distinguished for their invaluable experience in competing at the sharp end in two top-tier teams, the Red Bull team and Mercedes, and Valtteri Bottas reflected the attitude of fighting spirit.
“Certainly, we are pragmatic,” he said. “There’s going to be a massive task to do, and it will likely be most likely a tough opening, because it's the top level of motorsport. But our goal isn't to finish last. I am confident with this setup, with these individuals, this staff, there is every reason that we won't be able to progress rapidly to a competitive level and taste victory.”
To realize that ambition staff acquisition has been in top gear, with staff now reaching in excess of 400 and intended to reach the objective of six hundred rapidly. In addition to their current base at the UK base, the organization are in the phase of finishing an headquarters at the Fishers location in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, where they are constructing the facility to build the new engine, planned for 2029 – in the meantime they will run Ferrari engines – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Germany. It is a complex structure, contrary to the direction in F1 for more centralization, and has prompted the fresh organizational mindset to which Chester alluded.
Apollo Model
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo program,” stated Lowdon shortly before the British GP in the summer. “We’re realistic, we understand how challenging it is. The timelines, are extremely compressed. Well, it's not a space expedition, but it can seem that way.”
So they have embraced, instead of the traditional management structure, a non-hierarchical approach comparable to that of Nasa’s, where there were a range of Apollo teams all working on different aspects of the program in a different facilities.
“In a system where you follow a process where an issue arises and they raise it up to their manager, that manager consults a leader somewhere else, it is relayed back, it’s super slow,” notes the CTO. “Therefore we enable people to really get on with it. Avoiding management approval for each action is far more efficient and faster.”
What Lies Ahead
The success of this flexible strategy will be tested in the intensity of Grand Prix in 2026 and there is a significant degree on the line for Formula One, too. Cadillac have recruited as their reserve driver the emerging American Colton Herta
