Just over one year ago at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately granted the go-ahead as the world of Formula One's latest entrant for 2026. Constructing the organization from scratch has required a intense work rate that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo program. As Formula One arrives on the Vegas strip this weekend, Cadillac know the deadline is approaching.
The Race Against Time to Australia
At the final race of the season to be held in the America, with approximately three months to go before they hit the circuit 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 monumental endeavor, they are cognizant there will never be adequate time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, became part of the newly formed team in the spring of 2023 not long after it was established, when the team were without even an approved entry. He has been at its core since then and enjoys a amused expression when thinking about the journey.
“There might be five minutes looking back at what you’ve done and say: ‘Amazing, what an achievement what we’ve done in less than three years,’” he notes. “But then the next minute you realize: ‘Well, we’ve still got quite a lot to do.’”
A Unique Opportunity
The CTO enjoyed success at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s championship-winning years of 2005/2006 and was in control of technical development at the new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no previous experience has truly matched the task of bringing the iconic American Cadillac marque, a works entry supported by the corporate entity, GM, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Building an Formula One team from the ground up, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he says. “It is like nothing else. In an established team you won't have the possibility to change organizational mindset.”
With each passing day that elapses focus are increasingly concentrated on the looming moment of truth in Australia and targets are being set realistically.
“It's reasonable to expect that a brand-new squad joining the grid is likely to start at the back but simply getting on to the grid will be an achievement in itself,” the team principal stated recently and while the CTO shared this view he believed the organization had a statement to make as well.
“The initial objective 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 correct procedures on the circuit. Once we’ve shown that we’re really credible, then we want to show forward movement after that.”
Driver Lineup and Recruitment Effort
In late summer they recruited Checo Pérez and Bottas as their racers for the 2026 season, a duo distinguished for their vast knowledge in performing at the front in two top-tier teams, Red Bull and the Mercedes team, and the Finnish driver reflected the attitude of determined optimism.
“Of course, we’re realistic,” he said. “There’s going to be a massive task to do, and we expect almost certainly a challenging beginning, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we’re not there to remain at the rear. In my view given this organization, with this team, this staff, it's entirely possible we won't be able to advance swiftly up to the pace and achieve good results.”
To that end recruitment has been in top gear, with staff now reaching over 400 and scheduled to reach the goal of six hundred swiftly. In addition to their present headquarters at the UK base, the squad are in the phase of building an headquarters at Fishers in Indianapolis and there is the GM works in North Carolina, where they are building the center to manufacture the 2029 engine, planned for 2029 – until then they will operate with Ferrari engines – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a sophisticated organisation, at odds with the movement in the sport for more centralization, and has inspired the innovative team culture to which Chester referred to.
Apollo Blueprint
“It's closely based on the NASA moon mission,” said Graeme Lowdon shortly before the Silverstone race in mid-season. “We have a clear-eyed view, we know how challenging it is. The deadlines, they’re super, super, super short. Well, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it can seem that way.”
So they have implemented, instead of the usual hierarchical system, a decentralized management akin to that of Nasa’s, where there were a assortment of Apollo teams all tackling various components of the mission in a multiple sites.
“In a system where you follow a protocol where a challenge emerges and they escalate it to their manager, that supervisor communicates with a manager in another department, it is relayed back, it’s super slow,” says Nick Chester. “We give authority to team members to handle things directly. Eliminating hierarchical consent for all decisions is much smoother and faster.”
What Lies Ahead
The success of this agile strategy will be proven in the pressure of racing when the season begins and there is a significant degree riding on this for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their test driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
