Just over a full year previously at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last awarded the official approval as F1's latest participant for the 2026 season. Constructing the organization from the ground up has involved a intense operating tempo that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo program. As the sport descends on the Vegas strip this weekend, Cadillac are aware time is getting tight.
The Race Against Time to Australia
At the last event of the championship to be held in the America, with just over a hundred days to go before they take to the track for the inaugural time in Australia at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a never-ending challenge, they are aware there will not be adequate time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, became part of the embryonic project in early 2023 shortly after it was established, when the team were without even an official entry. He has been at its core from that point and enjoys a amused expression when reflecting on the experience.
“You might get a short period thinking back at what you have accomplished and think: ‘Incredible, how impressive what we have built in under three years,’” Chester states. “But then the following moment you realize: ‘Yeah, we’ve still got quite a lot to do.’”
A Unique Opportunity
Nick Chester achieved victories at Renault in Alonso's title-winning years of 2005 and 2006 and was in charge of technical development at the then-new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no previous experience has truly matched the challenge of launching the iconic American Cadillac name, a factory team supported by the owner, GM, into Formula One.
“Building an F1 team from nothing, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he observes. “It's unparalleled. In an established team you don’t get the possibility to alter team culture.”
With each passing day that passes focus are sharper on the approaching moment of truth in Melbourne and expectations are being handled.
“You have to assume that a brand-new squad entering the sport is probably going to finish last but just making it to the starting line will be an feat in itself,” Graeme Lowdon noted recently and while Chester echoed this he thought the organization had a point to prove as well.
“Our primary goal we want to show is that we belong on the grid,” Chester explains. “So we show up and we function efficiently. We want to show that we’re a proper team performing the proper actions on the circuit. Once we’ve shown that our credentials are solid, then we want to show progression from there on.”
Racing Talent and Recruitment Drive
In August they recruited Sergio Perez and Bottas as their pilots for 2026, a duo distinguished for their priceless expertise in performing at the sharp end in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull and Mercedes-AMG, and Bottas expressed the attitude of combative optimism.
“Certainly, we have a realistic outlook,” he commented. “We face a massive task to do, and it’s going to be probably a challenging beginning, because this is Formula One. But we’re not there to finish last. I am confident with this structure, with this group, this staff, there’s no reason why we can't manage to progress rapidly to a competitive level and enjoy some success.”
To achieve that goal recruitment has been in top gear, with personnel now up to over 400 and planned to hit the target of six hundred rapidly. Complementing their existing facility at the UK base, the team are in the process of finishing an headquarters at Fishers in Indy and there is the GM plant in North Carolina, where they are developing the plant to manufacture the new engine, planned for 2029 – for now they will run Ferrari power units – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Germany. It is a sophisticated structure, contrary to the trend in Formula One for more centralization, and has prompted the innovative team culture to which Nick Chester referred to.
Apollo Blueprint
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo program,” said Lowdon shortly before the Silverstone race in the summer. “We are pragmatic, we know how tough it is. The deadlines, they’re super, super, super short. Alright, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it can seem that way.”
So they have adopted, instead of the traditional management structure, a decentralized management similar to that of the space agency's, where there were a variety of specialist groups all focusing on distinct elements of the project across a different facilities.
“When you must follow a procedure where an issue arises and they raise it up to their supervisor, that manager consults a leader somewhere else, it goes back down the chain, the process is very slow,” explains Nick Chester. “So we empower people to take charge. Moving away from hierarchical consent for all decisions is much smoother and quicker.”
The Future
The effectiveness of this nimble approach will be tested in the intensity of Grand Prix when the season begins and there is a considerable amount riding on this for the sport, too. Cadillac have recruited as their reserve driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta
