Approximately a full year previously at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally awarded the green light as the world of Formula One's latest entry for 2026. Building the organization from the ground up has involved a intense pace of work that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo moon landing. As the sport arrives on Las Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac are aware the deadline is approaching.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the final race of the season to be staged in the America, with approximately 100 days to go before they hit the circuit for the inaugural time in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a sisyphean challenge, they are cognizant there will not be adequate time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, came aboard the nascent project in the spring of 2023 soon after it was formed, when the organization were without even an official entry. He has been at its center ever since and enjoys a amused expression when reflecting on the ride.
“You might get five minutes reflecting at what you have accomplished and say: ‘Wow, how impressive what we have built in under three years,’” he says. “But then the following moment you consider: ‘Yes, we’ve still got quite a lot to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Opportunity
Nick Chester enjoyed success at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s victorious campaigns of the mid-2000s and was in command of technical development at the then-new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no previous experience has truly matched the mission of launching the iconic American Cadillac name, a works entry backed by the parent company, GM, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Establishing an Formula One team from nothing, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” Chester remarks. “It is like nothing else. In an existing team you rarely get the chance to change team culture.”
With each day that elapses thoughts are sharper on the impending moment of truth in the Australian GP and goals are being set realistically.
“You have to assume that any new team entering the sport is probably going to finish last but merely participating will be an feat in itself,” Graeme Lowdon noted earlier this year and while Nick Chester echoed this he thought the squad had a reputation to build as well.
“Our primary goal we intend to prove is that we deserve to be there,” he says. “In order that we arrive and we operate well. We aim to demonstrate that this is a professional operation performing the correct procedures on the track. When we prove that we are a legitimate team, then we aim to demonstrate forward movement from there on.”
Racing Talent and Hiring Push
In August they recruited Checo Pérez and Valtteri as their drivers for 2026, a tandem remarkable for their invaluable experience in operating at the leading positions in two championship-winning squads, the Red Bull team and Mercedes, and Bottas expressed the sentiment of determined optimism.
“Naturally, we’re realistic,” Bottas stated. “We have a mountain of work to do, and we expect probably a challenging beginning, because this is Formula One. But we’re not there to finish last. I am confident given this organization, with this group, this staff, there is every reason that we can't manage to advance swiftly up to the pace and taste victory.”
To that end hiring has been in full swing, with staff now at in excess of 400 and intended to hit the target of 600 members swiftly. In addition to their existing facility at the UK base, the organization are in the process of completing an headquarters at Fishers in Indianapolis and there is the General Motors facility in North Carolina, where they are developing the center to produce the 2029 engine, planned for the 2029 season – for now they will use Ferrari engines – and the aerodynamic facility in Germany. It is a complex organization, different from the direction in the sport for increased consolidation, and has prompted the new cultural approach to which Chester referred.
Apollo Model
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo program,” said Graeme Lowdon shortly before the British GP in the summer. “We’re realistic, we understand how challenging it is. The deadlines, are extremely compressed. OK, it's not a space expedition, but it can seem that way.”
So they have embraced, rather than the traditional management structure, a non-hierarchical approach comparable to that of NASA's, where there were a assortment of project teams all focusing on different aspects of the project at a different facilities.
“If you have to go through a process where someone has a problem and they raise it up to their supervisor, that leader communicates with a manager at a different location, it travels back down, it becomes inefficient,” explains Chester. “So we empower team members to take charge. Avoiding managerial sign-off for all decisions is far more efficient and more rapid.”
The Future
The effectiveness of this flexible approach will be evaluated in the heat of competition when the season begins and there is a significant degree on the line for F1, too. The Cadillac team have taken on as their test driver the young Californian Colton Herta
