Approximately one year previously at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were ultimately granted the green light as the world of Formula One's newest entrant for 2026. Establishing the organization from nothing has required a intense work rate that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo moon landing. As F1 descends on Vegas this weekend, Cadillac know the deadline is approaching.
The Countdown to Australia
At the season finale of the campaign to be held in the United States, with around a hundred days to go before they take to the track for the inaugural time 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 never be enough hours in the day.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, joined the nascent project in early 2023 not long after it was established, when the team were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its heart from that point and has a knowing grin when thinking about the journey.
“There might be a short period thinking back at what the team has achieved and go: ‘Incredible, isn’t this fantastic what we have built in under three years,’” he says. “And then the following moment you think: ‘Yes, there is still quite a lot to do.’”
A Unique Opportunity
Chester achieved victories at the Renault team in the driver Fernando Alonso's victorious years of the mid-2000s and was in charge of technical development at the then-new Mercedes Formula E team, but no previous experience has been quite like the mission of introducing the all-American Cadillac brand, a manufacturer-backed entry backed by the owner, GM, into Formula One.
“Establishing an Formula One team from the ground up, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” Chester remarks. “It's unparalleled. In an established team you rarely get the opportunity to alter team culture.”
With every day that goes by focus are sharper on the looming critical moment in Melbourne and targets are being set realistically.
“You have to assume that any new team joining the grid is likely to start at the back but just making it to the starting line will be an feat in itself,” Graeme Lowdon commented earlier this year and while Chester shared this view he felt the organization had a point to prove as well.
“Our primary goal we want to show is that we should be there,” Chester explains. “In order that we show up and we function efficiently. We want to show that we’re a proper team performing the correct procedures on the circuit. Once we’ve shown that we’re really credible, then we will focus on improvement after that.”
Racing Talent and Team Building Drive
In late summer they contracted Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a duo notable for their priceless expertise in performing at the front in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes, and the Finnish driver reflected the sentiment of fighting spirit.
“Certainly, we are pragmatic,” Bottas stated. “There’s going to be a mountain of work to do, and we expect most likely a difficult start, because this is Formula One. But our goal isn't to finish last. I am confident with this setup, with this group, these people, it's entirely possible we can't manage to progress rapidly up to the pace and achieve good results.”
To realize that ambition staff acquisition has been in overdrive, with staff now at more than 400 and planned to attain the objective of six hundred quickly. In addition to their existing facility at the Silverstone circuit, the team are in the midst of building an main base at Fishers, Indiana in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM works in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are constructing the facility to manufacture the 2029 engine, scheduled for 2029 – for now they will run Ferrari power units – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a sophisticated structure, different from the direction in Formula One for more centralization, and has inspired the innovative team culture to which Chester referred.
Apollo Model
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo project,” remarked the team principal just before the British Grand Prix in the summer. “We have a clear-eyed view, we recognize how challenging it is. The schedules, are extremely compressed. Well, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have adopted, rather than the traditional management structure, a flat management structure comparable to that of NASA's, where there were a variety of Apollo teams all tackling distinct elements of the project at a multiple sites.
“In a system where you follow a process where an issue arises and they escalate it to their supervisor, that leader communicates with a supervisor somewhere else, it travels back down, the process is very slow,” notes the CTO. “So we empower staff to handle things directly. Eliminating hierarchical consent for each action is far more efficient and more rapid.”
What Lies Ahead
The effectiveness of this nimble approach will be proven in the heat of competition next season and there is a considerable amount on the line for Formula One, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their test driver the young American Colton Herta
