Approximately a full year previously at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last granted the go-ahead as the world of Formula One's latest entry for the 2026 season. Building the squad from scratch has required a intense work rate that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo moon landing. As Formula One descends on the Vegas strip this weekend, Cadillac are aware the clock is ticking.
The Countdown to Australia
At the last event of the campaign to be held in the America, with approximately three months to go before they make their debut for the first time in Melbourne at the 2026 opener, the Cadillac F1 project have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a sisyphean endeavor, they are aware there will never be enough hours in the day.
The CTO, Nick Chester, became part of the nascent team in early 2023 soon after it was established, when the team were without even an approved entry. He has been at its center from that point and has a wry smile when reflecting on the journey.
“There might be five minutes reflecting at what the team has achieved and say: ‘Amazing, what an achievement what the team has created in under three years,’” Chester states. “Then the following moment you realize: ‘Well, there is still a great deal to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Task
The CTO achieved victories at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s victorious seasons of 2005 and 2006 and was in control of technical direction at the recently formed Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but nothing has been quite like the mission of introducing the iconic American Cadillac marque, a factory team supported by the owner, General Motors, into F1.
“Building an grand prix team from scratch, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he observes. “It's unparalleled. In an existing team you rarely get the possibility to change cultural approach.”
With each day that goes by minds are more focused on the approaching decisive point in Australia and targets are being managed.
“It's reasonable to expect that any new team joining the grid is going to be last but just making it to the starting line will be an accomplishment in itself,” the team principal noted earlier this year and while Chester echoed this he believed the squad had a point to prove as well.
“The initial objective we want to show is that we should be there,” he says. “So we arrive and we function efficiently. We seek to prove that we’re a proper team doing the proper actions on the race track. Once we prove that we’re really credible, then we want to show forward movement subsequently.”
Driver Lineup and Team Building Effort
In the summer they signed Sergio Pérez and Bottas as their racers for 2026, a pair notable for their vast knowledge in competing at the sharp end in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull and the Mercedes team, and Bottas echoed the mood of combative optimism.
“Naturally, we’re realistic,” he commented. “We have a massive task to do, and we expect most likely a tough opening, because it's the top level of motorsport. But our goal isn't to finish last. I believe given this organization, with these individuals, these people, it's entirely possible we won't be able to advance swiftly up to the pace and enjoy some success.”
To realize that ambition recruitment has been in top gear, with personnel now at over 400 and intended to reach the objective of 600 members swiftly. In addition to their existing facility at Silverstone, the squad are in the midst of completing an main base at Fishers in Indianapolis and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are constructing the facility to produce the power unit, set for 2029 – until then they will use Ferrari engines – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a complex organization, at odds with the movement in F1 for increased consolidation, and has led to the new cultural approach to which Nick Chester alluded.
Apollo Blueprint
“It's closely based on the Apollo program,” remarked Lowdon shortly before the British Grand Prix in mid-season. “We have a clear-eyed view, we know how challenging it is. The deadlines, they’re super, super, super short. OK, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have embraced, instead of the usual hierarchical system, a flat management structure akin to that of Nasa’s, where there were a variety of project teams all focusing on different aspects of the mission in a multiple sites.
“In a system where you follow a procedure where someone has a problem and they escalate it to their team leader, that supervisor communicates with a manager in another department, it is relayed back, it becomes inefficient,” says Nick Chester. “We give authority to staff to take charge. Moving away from hierarchical consent for each action is far more efficient and quicker.”
Upcoming Challenges
The efficacy of this flexible strategy will be proven in the heat of competition in 2026 and there is no little amount at stake for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their development driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta
