Just over a full year in the past at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally granted the go-ahead as Formula One’s newest participant for the 2026 season. Building the team from nothing has required a hectic pace of work that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo moon landing. As the sport converges on Las Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac know the deadline is approaching.
The Tight Timeline to Melbourne
At the last event of the championship to be staged in the US, with around 100 days to go before they make their debut 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 never-ending task, they are aware there will never be sufficient time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, became part of the embryonic team in early 2023 shortly after it was established, when the team were without even an approved entry. He has been at its center from that point and enjoys a amused expression when considering the ride.
“There might be a brief moment thinking back at what you have accomplished and think: ‘Wow, what an achievement what we’ve done in less than three years,’” Chester states. “Then the very next instant you think: ‘Yeah, we’ve still got quite a lot to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Opportunity
Chester enjoyed success at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s title-winning years of 2005 and 2006 and was in charge of technical direction at the new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but nothing has been quite like the task of introducing the iconic American Cadillac name, a factory team supported by the parent company, General Motors, into F1.
“Creating an grand prix team from the ground up, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he says. “There's nothing comparable. In an established team you won't have the chance to transform organizational mindset.”
With each passing day that elapses focus are sharper on the impending decisive point in Melbourne and goals are being handled.
“One must presume that any new team joining the grid is going to be last but merely participating will be an achievement in itself,” Graeme Lowdon commented earlier this year and while Chester agreed with this sentiment he thought the squad had a point to prove as well.
“Our primary goal we aim to demonstrate is that we should be there,” he emphasizes. “So that we turn up and we operate well. We seek to prove that we are a serious contender performing the proper actions on the circuit. Once we prove that we’re really credible, then we aim to demonstrate improvement from there on.”
Driver Lineup and Hiring Push
In August they contracted Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas as their pilots for 2026, a duo distinguished for their priceless expertise in operating at the sharp end in two of the sport’s biggest teams, the Red Bull team and Mercedes, and the Finnish driver reflected the attitude of combative optimism.
“Of course, we’re realistic,” he commented. “We have a massive task to do, and we expect most likely a challenging beginning, because it is F1. But we’re not there to stay at the back. In my view with this setup, with this team, these people, there is every reason that we can't manage to get relatively quickly up to the pace and enjoy some success.”
To achieve that goal hiring has been in overdrive, with personnel now at more than 400 and scheduled to hit the target of 600 quickly. In addition to their existing facility at Silverstone, the squad are in the phase of completing an main base at the Fishers location in Indianapolis and there is the GM works in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are building the plant to manufacture the new engine, set for 2029 – in the meantime they will use Ferrari engines – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Germany. It is a intricate organization, at odds with the direction in Formula One for more centralization, and has prompted the innovative team culture to which Chester referred to.
Apollo Blueprint
“It's closely based on the Apollo program,” stated the team principal shortly before the British Grand Prix in the summer. “We are pragmatic, we recognize how challenging it is. The timelines, they’re super, super, super short. Alright, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have adopted, instead of the conventional chain of command, a flat management structure comparable to that of Nasa’s, where there were a assortment of project teams all focusing on different aspects of the program across a variety of locations.
“When you must follow a protocol where a challenge emerges and they raise it up to their manager, that supervisor talks to a leader in another department, it travels back down, it becomes inefficient,” explains Nick Chester. “Therefore we enable team members to handle things directly. Moving away from management approval for everything is much smoother and quicker.”
Upcoming Challenges
The efficacy of this flexible strategy will be tested in the intensity of Grand Prix when the season begins and there is a significant degree on the line for Formula One, too. Cadillac have taken on as their test driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta
