A little more than one year ago at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately awarded the official approval as the world of Formula One's newest participant for 2026. Constructing the organization from nothing has involved a intense pace of work that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo program. As Formula One arrives on the Vegas strip this weekend, Cadillac understand time is getting tight.
The Race Against Time to Australia
At the final race of the championship to be hosted in the United States, with just over three months to go before they hit the circuit for the maiden outing in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a never-ending endeavor, they are aware there will never be adequate time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, joined the embryonic project in the spring of 2023 soon after it was established, when the squad were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its center since then and gets a wry smile when reflecting on the journey.
“There might be a brief moment looking back at what you’ve done and say: ‘Incredible, isn’t this fantastic what the team has created in under three years,’” he notes. “And then the following moment you realize: ‘Well, we still have a great deal to do.’”
A Unique Task
The CTO had success at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s title-winning years of 2005/2006 and was in command of engineering strategy at the new Mercedes electric racing team, but no other project has been quite like the challenge of launching the quintessentially American Cadillac name, a factory team sponsored by the parent company, GM, into F1.
“Building an Formula One team from the ground up, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he observes. “There's nothing comparable. In an existing team you don’t get the chance to alter team culture.”
With every day that goes by minds are increasingly concentrated on the looming critical moment in the Australian GP and expectations are being managed.
“You have to assume that any new team entering the sport is probably going to finish last but simply getting on to the grid will be an accomplishment in itself,” Graeme Lowdon noted earlier this year and while Chester echoed this he believed the squad had a statement to make as well.
“Our primary goal we intend to prove is that we deserve to be there,” he emphasizes. “So we turn up and we perform competently. We aim to demonstrate that we are a serious contender doing the proper actions on the race track. After we have demonstrated that we are a legitimate team, then we will focus on progression after that.”
Driver Lineup and Hiring Push
In August they signed Sergio Perez and Valtteri as their drivers for 2026, a pair remarkable for their invaluable experience in performing at the sharp end in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes-AMG, and Bottas expressed the sentiment of combative optimism.
“Naturally, we’re realistic,” Bottas stated. “We face a huge amount of work to do, and it’s going to be almost certainly a difficult start, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we’re not there to stay at the back. In my view with this structure, with these individuals, these people, there’s no reason why we can't manage to advance swiftly to a competitive level and enjoy some success.”
To achieve that goal hiring 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 UK base, the organization are in the phase of building an main base at Fishers in Indy and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are constructing the plant to build the new engine, set for 2029 – for now they will run Ferrari power units – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne. It is a sophisticated organization, at odds with the trend in Formula One for increased consolidation, and has prompted the innovative team culture to which the CTO referred to.
Apollo Blueprint
“It's closely based on the Apollo program,” remarked the team principal shortly before the Silverstone race in July. “We are pragmatic, we understand how tough it is. The deadlines, are extremely compressed. OK, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it can seem that way.”
So they have implemented, instead of the conventional chain of command, a flat management structure comparable to that of the space agency's, where there were a assortment of specialist groups all tackling distinct elements of the mission at a variety of locations.
“When you must follow a process where a challenge emerges and they escalate it to their team leader, that manager talks to a supervisor at a different location, it travels back down, it’s super slow,” explains the CTO. “So we empower people to take charge. Avoiding managerial sign-off for everything is much smoother and more rapid.”
What Lies Ahead
The success of this nimble methodology will be tested in the intensity of Grand Prix in 2026 and there is a significant degree on the line for F1, too. The Cadillac team have taken on as their development driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta
