Approximately twelve months previously at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately given the go-ahead as the world of Formula One's most recent entry for the 2026 season. Constructing the team from scratch has entailed a intense operating tempo that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo program. As the sport converges on the Vegas strip this weekend, the team understand the clock is ticking.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the last event of the championship to be hosted in the America, with around a hundred days to go before they make their debut for the inaugural time in Melbourne at the first race of 2026, the Cadillac F1 project have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a never-ending task, they are conscious there will never be adequate time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, came aboard the newly formed project in early 2023 shortly after it was created, when the squad were without even an official entry. He has been at its heart since then and gets a wry smile when reflecting on the experience.
“You might get a short period reflecting at what the team has achieved and go: ‘Incredible, what an achievement what we’ve done in under three years,’” he says. “Then the following moment you realize: ‘Yes, there is still a significant amount to do.’”
An Unprecedented Opportunity
The CTO achieved victories at the Renault team in Alonso's title-winning years of 2005/2006 and was in command of engineering strategy at the new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but nothing has quite compared with the mission of bringing the all-American Cadillac marque, a works entry supported by the corporate entity, General Motors Corporation, into F1.
“Building an F1 team from the ground up, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he says. “There's nothing comparable. In an existing team you won't have the opportunity to alter cultural approach.”
With each passing day that passes thoughts are sharper on the impending moment of truth in the Australian GP and targets are being set realistically.
“You have to assume that any incoming team coming in is going to be last but simply getting on to the grid will be an accomplishment in itself,” the team principal commented recently and while the CTO echoed this he thought the team had a statement to make as well.
“The first thing we intend to prove is that we belong on the grid,” Chester explains. “So we arrive and we perform competently. We want to show that we’re a proper team doing the right things on the race track. Once we prove that we’re really credible, then we will focus on forward movement after that.”
Driver Lineup and Hiring Push
In late summer they signed Checo Pérez and Valtteri as their pilots for 2026, a tandem remarkable for their vast knowledge in competing at the sharp end in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull and Mercedes, and Bottas echoed the sentiment of determined optimism.
“Certainly, we are pragmatic,” he said. “We face a huge amount of work to do, and it will likely be almost certainly a challenging beginning, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we aren't joining to stay at the back. In my view given this organization, with these individuals, these personnel, there is every reason that we can't manage to progress rapidly to the front and enjoy some success.”
To realize that ambition staff acquisition has been in full swing, with staff now reaching more than 400 and intended to hit the objective of 600 quickly. In addition to their present headquarters at Silverstone, the organization are in the process of finishing an HQ at the Fishers location in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM works in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are building the plant to produce the new engine, set for 2029 – in the meantime they will run power from Ferrari – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a sophisticated organisation, at odds with the direction in F1 for more centralization, and has prompted the new cultural approach to which the CTO referred.
Apollo Model
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo program,” remarked Graeme Lowdon just before the Silverstone race in the summer. “We’re realistic, we understand how difficult it is. The timelines, they’re super, super, super short. Well, it's not a space expedition, but it can seem that way.”
So they have adopted, instead of the traditional management structure, a non-hierarchical approach similar to that of the space agency's, where there were a variety of specialist groups all focusing on distinct elements of the project at a different facilities.
“When you must follow a protocol where someone has a problem and they report it to their manager, that supervisor consults a supervisor somewhere else, it is relayed back, the process is very slow,” explains the CTO. “We give authority to team members to take charge. Eliminating hierarchical consent for everything is much smoother and faster.”
What Lies Ahead
The success of this flexible approach will be evaluated in the pressure of racing in 2026 and there is a considerable amount riding on this for Formula One, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their development driver the young Californian Colton Herta
