A little more than a full year previously at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately awarded the official approval as F1's newest participant for the 2026 season. Constructing the team from the ground up has involved a intense operating tempo that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo program. As F1 converges on the Vegas strip this race weekend, the team know time is getting tight.
The Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the last event of the championship to be staged in the United States, with approximately 100 days to go before they hit the circuit for the inaugural time in Australia at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a sisyphean endeavor, they are cognizant there will never be enough hours in the day.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, joined the nascent project in March 2023 soon after it was formed, when the organization were without even an official entry. He has been at its core ever since and gets a knowing grin when thinking about the ride.
“You might get a short period thinking back at what you’ve done and say: ‘Incredible, isn’t this fantastic what the team has created in under three years,’” Chester states. “And then the next minute you think: ‘Yeah, we’ve still got a great deal to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Challenge
Chester had success at Renault in the driver Fernando Alonso's championship-winning campaigns of 2005/2006 and was in command of engineering strategy at the new Mercedes electric racing team, but no previous experience has been quite like the challenge of introducing the quintessentially American Cadillac marque, a manufacturer-backed entry sponsored by the corporate entity, GM, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Establishing an Formula One team from nothing, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he observes. “It's unparalleled. In an established team you won't have the possibility to transform team culture.”
With each passing day that passes focus are sharper on the looming decisive point in the Australian GP and targets are being set realistically.
“It's reasonable to expect that a brand-new squad coming in is going to be last but just making it to the starting line will be an feat in itself,” Graeme Lowdon commented this year and while Chester agreed with this sentiment he felt the squad had a reputation to build as well.
“Our primary goal we intend to prove is that we deserve to be there,” Chester explains. “So we show up and we perform competently. We seek to prove that this is a professional operation executing the correct procedures on the circuit. When we prove that we’re really credible, then we will focus on progression after that.”
Pilot Selection and Recruitment Push
In August they signed Checo Pérez and Bottas as their pilots for 2026, a duo distinguished for their vast knowledge in competing at the sharp end in two top-tier teams, Red Bull and the Mercedes team, and the Finnish driver echoed the sentiment of fighting spirit.
“Of course, we are pragmatic,” he commented. “There’s going to be a mountain of work to do, and it will likely be probably a tough opening, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we aren't joining to finish last. In my view given this organization, with these individuals, this staff, it's entirely possible we shouldn’t be able to advance swiftly to a competitive level and achieve good results.”
To achieve that goal staff acquisition has been in overdrive, with personnel now reaching over 400 and scheduled to attain the target of 600 rapidly. Alongside their present headquarters at Silverstone, the team are in the process of completing an HQ at Fishers, Indiana in Indy and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, where they are constructing the plant to build the new engine, scheduled for 2029 – for now they will use power from Ferrari – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Germany. It is a complex organisation, at odds with the movement in Formula One for increased consolidation, and has led to the innovative team culture to which Chester referred.
Apollo Model
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo program,” remarked the team principal shortly before the British Grand Prix in mid-season. “We are pragmatic, we know how challenging it is. The schedules, are incredibly tight. Alright, it's not a space expedition, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have implemented, rather than the traditional management structure, a flat management structure akin to that of Nasa’s, where there were a variety of specialist groups all working on different aspects of the program in a variety of locations.
“In a system where you follow a process where someone has a problem and they escalate it to their supervisor, that supervisor communicates with a manager at a different location, it goes back down the chain, it becomes inefficient,” notes Nick Chester. “So we empower people to handle things directly. Eliminating hierarchical consent for all decisions is so much cleaner and faster.”
What Lies Ahead
The success of this nimble strategy will be tested in the heat of competition in 2026 and there is a considerable amount at stake for F1, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their test driver the young Californian Colton Herta
