A little more than twelve months in the past at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately granted the go-ahead as the world of Formula One's newest entry for 2026. Establishing the team from nothing has involved a frenetic operating tempo that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo program. As the sport converges on Vegas this race weekend, the team are aware the clock is ticking.
The Tight Timeline to Australia
At the season finale of the campaign to be staged in the US, with approximately a hundred days to go before they hit the circuit for the first time in Australia at the first race of 2026, the Cadillac F1 project have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a never-ending endeavor, they are conscious there will never be adequate time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, came aboard the nascent operation in March 2023 soon after it was created, when the team were without even an official entry. He has been at its core ever since and gets a wry smile when considering the experience.
“You might get a short period reflecting at what you’ve done and think: ‘Wow, isn’t this fantastic what we’ve done in a short three-year period,’” he notes. “And then the next minute you think: ‘Yeah, we’ve still got a great deal to do.’”
An Unprecedented Task
The CTO achieved victories at Renault in Alonso's championship-winning seasons of 2005/2006 and was in control of technical development at the new Mercedes Formula E team, but no other project has truly matched the challenge of bringing the quintessentially American Cadillac brand, a manufacturer-backed entry backed by the owner, General Motors Corporation, into Formula One.
“Establishing an grand prix team from the ground up, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he says. “It's unparalleled. In an well-set team you rarely get the chance to alter cultural approach.”
With every day that elapses focus are sharper on the approaching critical moment in Australia and goals are being handled.
“One must presume that any new team coming in is probably going to finish last but merely participating will be an achievement in itself,” Graeme Lowdon stated recently and while Chester shared this view he felt the organization had a statement to make as well.
“The first thing we aim to demonstrate is that we deserve to be there,” Chester explains. “In order that we arrive and we operate well. We want to show that this is a professional operation performing the proper actions on the circuit. Once we have demonstrated that we are a legitimate team, then we want to show improvement subsequently.”
Driver Lineup and Hiring Drive
In late summer they contracted Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas as their pilots for 2026, a pair notable for their vast knowledge in operating at the sharp end in two top-tier teams, Red Bull and the Mercedes team, and the Finnish driver echoed the sentiment of determined optimism.
“Certainly, we are pragmatic,” he said. “We have a huge amount of work to do, and it will likely be probably a difficult start, because this is Formula One. But we aren't joining to finish last. I believe with this setup, with these individuals, these personnel, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to progress rapidly up to the pace and taste victory.”
To realize that ambition staff acquisition has been in top gear, with staff now up to over 400 and intended to reach the goal of 600 quickly. Alongside their existing facility at the Silverstone circuit, the team are in the phase of completing an HQ at Fishers in Indianapolis and there is the GM works in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are constructing the plant to build the 2029 engine, set for 2029 – until then they will use Ferrari power units – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a sophisticated structure, at odds with the movement in Formula One for greater centralisation, and has prompted the innovative team culture to which Nick Chester referred.
NASA Blueprint
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo program,” said the team principal ahead of the British Grand Prix in mid-season. “We are pragmatic, we know how difficult it is. The schedules, are extremely compressed. Well, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have embraced, instead of the conventional chain of command, a non-hierarchical approach comparable to that of NASA's, where there were a range of Apollo teams all tackling distinct elements of the project at a variety of locations.
“When you must follow a protocol where an issue arises and they report it to their team leader, that leader talks to a manager somewhere else, it is relayed back, it becomes inefficient,” explains Nick Chester. “So we empower staff to really get on with it. Avoiding management approval for everything is far more efficient and quicker.”
Upcoming Challenges
The success of this nimble methodology will be evaluated in the heat of competition in 2026 and there is a significant degree on the line for F1, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their test driver the young Californian Colton Herta
