Approximately one year ago at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally given the official approval as the world of Formula One's most recent entry for 2026. Building the organization from the ground up has required a intense operating tempo that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo program. As the sport converges on Vegas this weekend, the team are aware the clock is ticking.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the last event of the season to be staged in the United States, with just over a hundred days to go before they hit the circuit for the inaugural time in Australia at the first race of 2026, the Cadillac F1 project have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a monumental endeavor, they are aware there will never be adequate time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, came aboard the nascent operation in March 2023 not long after it was formed, when the squad were without even an official entry. He has been at its core since then and gets a wry smile when considering the ride.
“You can have a brief moment thinking back at what the team has achieved and think: ‘Wow, what an achievement what we’ve done in under three years,’” Chester states. “And then the next minute you think: ‘Well, there is still quite a lot to do.’”
A Unique Challenge
The CTO achieved victories at Renault in the driver Fernando Alonso's title-winning years of 2005 and 2006 and was in control of technical direction at the then-new Mercedes Formula E team, but no previous experience has quite compared with the mission of launching the quintessentially American Cadillac brand, a factory team supported by the parent company, General Motors Corporation, into F1.
“Establishing an Formula One team from nothing, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” Chester remarks. “It is like nothing else. In an established team you rarely get the opportunity to alter organizational mindset.”
With each passing day that goes by thoughts are sharper on the looming critical moment in the Australian GP and goals are being managed.
“One must presume that any incoming team joining the grid is going to be last but just making it to the starting line will be an feat in itself,” the team principal noted this year and while Chester echoed this he believed the squad had a reputation to build as well.
“The initial objective we intend to prove is that we deserve to be there,” he emphasizes. “In order that we arrive and we operate well. We want to show that we are a serious contender performing the correct procedures on the race track. When we’ve shown that we are a legitimate team, then we want to show forward movement subsequently.”
Driver Lineup and Team Building Push
In August they signed Sergio Perez and Bottas as their pilots for the 2026 season, a tandem notable for their invaluable experience in competing at the leading positions in two top-tier teams, Red Bull and Mercedes, and Bottas expressed the sentiment of combative optimism.
“Of course, we are pragmatic,” he said. “We have a massive task to do, and it’s going to be probably a tough opening, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we aren't joining to finish last. I believe given this organization, with these individuals, these personnel, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to advance swiftly to a competitive level and achieve good results.”
To achieve that goal recruitment has been in top gear, with personnel now at over 400 and scheduled to attain the target of 600 members swiftly. Complementing their existing facility at the Silverstone circuit, the squad are in the process of completing an headquarters at the Fishers location in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are constructing the facility to build the new engine, set for 2029 – for now they will run Ferrari engines – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a complex structure, contrary to the trend in Formula One for increased consolidation, and has inspired the fresh organizational mindset to which the CTO alluded.
Space Mission Model
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo project,” said the team principal just before the British Grand Prix in mid-season. “We are pragmatic, we recognize how challenging it is. The deadlines, are incredibly tight. OK, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it can seem that way.”
So they have embraced, rather than the usual hierarchical system, a flat management structure akin to that of NASA's, where there were a assortment of Apollo teams all tackling different aspects of the project in a different facilities.
“When you must follow a protocol where an issue arises and they report it to their supervisor, that supervisor talks to a leader somewhere else, it is relayed back, it becomes inefficient,” says Nick Chester. “Therefore we enable team members to handle things directly. Avoiding management approval for everything is much smoother and faster.”
What Lies Ahead
The efficacy of this agile methodology will be tested in the heat of competition in 2026 and there is a considerable amount at stake for Formula One, too. Cadillac have recruited as their test driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
