A little more than a full year ago at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally granted the green light as F1's newest entrant for the 2026 season. Establishing the squad from nothing has entailed a hectic pace of work that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo program. As the sport arrives on the Vegas strip this weekend, Cadillac understand the clock is ticking.
The Countdown to Australia
At the last event of the championship to be hosted in the United States, with around three months to go before they make their debut for the maiden outing in Australia at the first race of 2026, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a never-ending challenge, they are aware there will never be adequate time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, came aboard the embryonic project in March 2023 soon after it was created, when the team were without even an official entry. He has been at its heart from that point and enjoys a wry smile when thinking about the experience.
“You might get five minutes looking back at what you have accomplished and think: ‘Incredible, what an achievement what we’ve done in a short three-year period,’” Chester states. “But then the following moment you think: ‘Well, there is still a significant amount to do.’”
A Unique Opportunity
The CTO enjoyed success at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s victorious years of 2005/2006 and was in charge of technical direction at the then-new Mercedes Formula E team, but no other project has been quite like the task of launching the iconic American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry sponsored by the parent company, General Motors, into F1.
“Establishing an Formula One team from the ground up, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he observes. “It is like nothing else. In an established team you won't have the opportunity to alter team culture.”
With each day that passes thoughts are increasingly concentrated on the approaching critical moment in Melbourne and expectations are being managed.
“You have to assume that any new team joining the grid is likely to start at the back but merely participating will be an feat in itself,” Graeme Lowdon noted this year and while Chester shared this view he thought the team had a reputation to build as well.
“The first thing we want to show is that we should be there,” Chester explains. “So that we show up and we operate well. We seek to prove that we are a serious contender doing the right things on the circuit. When we have demonstrated that our credentials are solid, then we want to show improvement after that.”
Driver Lineup and Team Building Push
In late summer they signed Sergio Pérez and Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a tandem distinguished for their invaluable experience in operating at the front in two championship-winning squads, the Red Bull team and the Mercedes team, and Bottas reflected the sentiment of fighting spirit.
“Certainly, we’re realistic,” he commented. “There’s going to be a mountain of work to do, and it will likely be probably a challenging beginning, because this is Formula One. But our goal isn't to stay at the back. I am confident with this setup, with this team, this staff, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to get relatively quickly to the front and taste victory.”
To that end staff acquisition has been in full swing, with personnel now at in excess of 400 and planned to hit the target of 600 swiftly. Complementing their existing facility at the UK base, the squad are in the process of building an headquarters at Fishers, Indiana in Indianapolis and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are constructing the plant to produce the power unit, planned for 2029 – for now they will use Ferrari power units – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Germany. It is a intricate structure, contrary to the trend in the sport for greater centralisation, and has led to the fresh organizational mindset to which Chester alluded.
Apollo Blueprint
“It's closely based on the NASA moon mission,” said Graeme Lowdon shortly before the British Grand Prix in July. “We are pragmatic, we understand how challenging it is. The deadlines, are incredibly tight. OK, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have embraced, as opposed to the conventional chain of command, a flat management structure similar to that of NASA's, where there were a range of Apollo teams all focusing on various components of the mission in a multiple sites.
“When you must follow a protocol where someone has a problem and they escalate it to their manager, that supervisor consults a leader somewhere else, it travels back down, it’s super slow,” says Chester. “So we empower staff to handle things directly. Eliminating management approval for everything is far more efficient and faster.”
The Future
The effectiveness of this agile methodology will be tested in the intensity of Grand Prix in 2026 and there is a significant degree on the line for the sport, too. Cadillac have taken on as their reserve driver the young Californian Colton Herta
