A little more than one year in the past at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately granted the official approval as Formula One’s latest participant for 2026. Constructing the team from scratch has involved a intense operating tempo that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo program. As F1 arrives on the Vegas strip this weekend, Cadillac know the clock is ticking.
The Countdown to Australia
At the last event of the season to be hosted in the America, with just over a hundred days to go before they take to the track for the maiden outing in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a sisyphean task, they are cognizant there will not be adequate time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, became part of the nascent project in the spring of 2023 soon after it was created, when the squad were without even an approved entry. He has been at its center since then and has a amused expression when reflecting on the ride.
“You might get a brief moment reflecting at what you’ve done and go: ‘Wow, isn’t this fantastic what we’ve done in a short three-year period,’” Chester states. “And then the following moment you consider: ‘Yeah, there is still a great deal to do.’”
An Unprecedented Task
Chester achieved victories at the Renault team in the driver Fernando Alonso's championship-winning seasons of 2005 and 2006 and was in command of technical direction at the new Mercedes Formula E team, but no other project has quite compared with the task of launching the iconic American Cadillac name, a works entry supported by the corporate entity, General Motors, into Formula One.
“Creating an F1 team from the ground up, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he says. “There's nothing comparable. In an established team you don’t get the opportunity to transform organizational mindset.”
With every day that goes by focus are increasingly concentrated on the approaching critical moment in the Australian GP and expectations are being set realistically.
“You have to assume that a brand-new squad joining the grid is probably going to finish last but simply getting on to the grid will be an feat in itself,” Lowdon stated recently and while Chester agreed with this sentiment he felt the squad had a reputation to build as well.
“Our primary goal we want to show is that we belong on the grid,” he emphasizes. “So we show up and we perform competently. We aim to demonstrate that we’re a proper team executing the correct procedures on the track. Once we’ve shown that our credentials are solid, then we want to show forward movement from there on.”
Driver Lineup and Hiring Drive
In late summer they recruited Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas as their racers for 2026, a duo notable for their invaluable experience in performing at the front in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes-AMG, and Valtteri Bottas echoed the mood of determined optimism.
“Naturally, we are pragmatic,” he said. “We face a massive task to do, and it’s going to be almost certainly a tough opening, because this is Formula One. But our goal isn't to remain at the rear. I believe with this setup, with these individuals, these people, there is every reason that we shouldn’t be able to progress rapidly to a competitive level and achieve good results.”
To realize that ambition staff acquisition has been in overdrive, with personnel now reaching in excess of 400 and intended to hit the target of 600 members rapidly. Alongside their current base at the UK base, the squad are in the process of building an headquarters at the Fishers location in Indy and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, where they are developing the facility to produce the power unit, planned for the 2029 season – for now they will operate with power from Ferrari – and the aerodynamic facility in Germany. It is a complex structure, contrary to the movement in Formula One for increased consolidation, and has inspired the new cultural approach to which Chester referred.
Space Mission Model
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo project,” said Lowdon ahead of the British Grand Prix in the summer. “We have a clear-eyed view, we understand how challenging it is. The schedules, they’re super, super, super short. OK, it's not a space expedition, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have implemented, rather than the traditional management structure, a flat management structure comparable to that of NASA's, where there were a assortment of Apollo teams all working on different aspects of the mission across a multiple sites.
“If you have to go through a protocol where a challenge emerges and they escalate it to their manager, that supervisor talks to a supervisor somewhere else, it travels back down, the process is very slow,” explains the CTO. “Therefore we enable staff to handle things directly. Avoiding hierarchical consent for each action is far more efficient and more rapid.”
The Future
The success of this flexible approach will be evaluated in the pressure of racing when the season begins and there is a significant degree on the line for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their reserve driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta
