Just over twelve months ago at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally awarded the go-ahead as Formula One’s most recent entry for the 2026 season. Constructing the squad from nothing has required a hectic operating tempo that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo program. As Formula One arrives on the Vegas strip this race weekend, Cadillac are aware time is getting tight.
The Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the final race of the season to be held in the United States, with around three months to go before they hit the circuit for the maiden outing in Australia at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a never-ending challenge, they are aware there will not be adequate time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, joined the nascent team in the spring of 2023 not long after it was established, when the squad were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its center since then and has a amused expression when reflecting on the experience.
“You can have a short period looking back at what the team has achieved and think: ‘Wow, isn’t this fantastic what we’ve done in under three years,’” he says. “Then the very next instant you realize: ‘Yes, we still have a significant amount to do.’”
A Unique Challenge
The CTO achieved victories at the Renault team in the driver Fernando Alonso's title-winning years of 2005/2006 and was in charge of technical direction at the then-new Mercedes electric racing team, but no previous experience has been quite like the task of introducing the iconic American Cadillac marque, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the parent company, General Motors, into Formula One.
“Creating an F1 team from scratch, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he observes. “There's nothing comparable. In an well-set team you don’t get the possibility to transform cultural approach.”
With each passing day that passes minds are increasingly concentrated on the impending decisive point in the Australian GP and expectations are being set realistically.
“One must presume that any new team joining the grid is going to be last but merely participating will be an achievement in itself,” the team principal noted recently and while Nick Chester shared this view he thought the organization had a statement to make as well.
“Our primary goal we intend to prove is that we should be there,” he emphasizes. “So we arrive and we perform competently. We aim to demonstrate that we’re a proper team doing the correct procedures on the track. When we prove that we’re really credible, then we want to show improvement subsequently.”
Racing Talent and Recruitment Drive
In August they contracted Checo Pérez and Bottas as their racers for the 2026 season, a duo distinguished for their vast knowledge in performing at the leading positions in two top-tier teams, the Red Bull team and the Mercedes team, and the Finnish driver echoed the mood of fighting spirit.
“Certainly, we’re realistic,” he said. “We face a huge amount of work to do, and it will likely be probably a tough opening, because this is Formula One. But our goal isn't to stay at the back. In my view given this organization, with this group, this staff, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to advance swiftly to the front and taste victory.”
To that end recruitment has been in overdrive, with staff now up to in excess of 400 and scheduled to attain the objective of six hundred quickly. Complementing their present headquarters at Silverstone, the squad are in the process of completing an HQ at the Fishers location in Indy and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, where they are constructing the center to build the power unit, set for the 2029 season – in the meantime they will operate with Ferrari power units – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne, Germany. It is a intricate organization, contrary to the trend in Formula One for more centralization, and has led to the fresh organizational mindset to which the CTO referred to.
Apollo Blueprint
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo project,” stated the team principal just before the British GP in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we know how tough it is. The deadlines, are extremely compressed. Well, it's not a space expedition, but it can seem that way.”
So they have embraced, rather than the usual hierarchical system, a decentralized management comparable to that of Nasa’s, where there were a range of Apollo teams all working on various components of the program across a multiple sites.
“If you have to go through a process where an issue arises and they escalate it to their manager, that leader talks to a leader at a different location, it is relayed back, it becomes inefficient,” explains the CTO. “We give authority to people to take charge. Eliminating hierarchical consent for everything is so much cleaner and faster.”
What Lies Ahead
The effectiveness of this agile strategy will be evaluated in the intensity of Grand Prix next season and there is no little amount riding on this for F1, too. Cadillac have signed as their test driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta
