Approximately one year in the past at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were ultimately granted the green light as Formula One’s newest participant for the 2026 season. Building the organization from the ground up has required a frenetic pace of work that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo moon landing. As F1 converges on Vegas this weekend, the team know the clock is ticking.
The Countdown to Australia
At the final race of the season to be staged in the America, with just over three months to go before they make their debut for the maiden outing in Australia 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 endeavor, they are cognizant there will not be adequate time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, became part of the newly formed team in the spring of 2023 shortly after it was created, when the team were without even an official entry. He has been at its core ever since and enjoys a wry smile when thinking about the journey.
“There might be five minutes reflecting at what the team has achieved and think: ‘Incredible, isn’t this fantastic what we have built in under three years,’” Chester states. “But then the next minute you consider: ‘Well, there is still a significant amount to do.’”
A Unique Challenge
Chester achieved victories at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s title-winning years of 2005/2006 and was in command of engineering strategy at the recently formed Mercedes electric racing team, but no previous experience has quite compared with the task of introducing the all-American Cadillac brand, a works entry backed by the corporate entity, GM, into Formula One.
“Creating an Formula One team from scratch, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he says. “It's unparalleled. In an established team you don’t get the chance to transform cultural approach.”
With each passing day that elapses thoughts are more focused on the impending moment of truth in Melbourne and targets are being handled.
“You have to assume that any incoming team coming in is probably going to finish last but just making it to the starting line will be an achievement in itself,” Lowdon commented earlier this year and while Chester agreed with this sentiment he felt the organization had a reputation to build as well.
“The initial objective we aim to demonstrate is that we belong on the grid,” Chester explains. “In order that we arrive and we perform competently. We seek to prove that this is a professional operation doing the proper actions on the track. Once we prove that our credentials are solid, then we will focus on progression from there on.”
Racing Talent and Hiring Effort
In the summer they recruited Checo Pérez and Valtteri as their pilots for the 2026 season, a pair remarkable for their vast knowledge in competing at the sharp end in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull and Mercedes, and the Finnish driver echoed the attitude of combative optimism.
“Of course, we have a realistic outlook,” Bottas stated. “There’s going to be a mountain of work to do, and it will likely be almost certainly a difficult start, because it is F1. But we’re not there to finish last. I believe with this setup, with this team, these people, it's entirely possible we shouldn’t be able to get relatively quickly to the front and enjoy some success.”
To realize that ambition staff acquisition has been in full swing, with employees now up to in excess of 400 and scheduled to hit the target of 600 rapidly. Alongside their current base at the UK base, the organization are in the process of completing an headquarters at Fishers, Indiana in Indy and there is the GM works in North Carolina, where they are building the plant to build the 2029 engine, set for the 2029 season – in the meantime they will use Ferrari power units – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a complex organization, contrary to the movement in Formula One for more centralization, and has prompted the innovative team culture to which the CTO referred to.
Apollo Model
“It's closely based on the NASA moon mission,” said Graeme Lowdon just before the British GP in the summer. “We have a clear-eyed view, we recognize how tough it is. The deadlines, are extremely compressed. Well, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it can seem that way.”
So they have adopted, instead of the usual hierarchical system, a flat management structure akin to that of Nasa’s, where there were a variety of specialist groups all tackling different aspects of the program across a different facilities.
“If you have to go through a procedure where an issue arises and they escalate it to their manager, that manager talks to a manager somewhere else, it is relayed back, it’s super slow,” notes Nick Chester. “We give authority to team members to take charge. Moving away from management approval for each action is much smoother and more rapid.”
What Lies Ahead
The effectiveness of this nimble methodology will be tested in the pressure of racing in 2026 and there is a significant degree at stake for the sport, too. Cadillac have signed as their reserve driver the young American Colton Herta
