Just over twelve months previously at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately granted the green light as F1's most recent entrant for the 2026 season. Building the squad from the ground up has required a frenetic operating tempo that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo program. As F1 arrives on Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac know the deadline is approaching.
The Tight Timeline to Melbourne
At the season finale of the campaign to be hosted in the United States, with around 100 days to go before they make their debut for the inaugural time in Australia at the first race of 2026, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a never-ending endeavor, they are cognizant there will never be enough hours in the day.
The CTO, Nick Chester, became part of the newly formed project in March 2023 soon after it was established, when the team were without even an official entry. He has been at its center since then and has a amused expression when thinking about the experience.
“You can have five minutes thinking back at what you’ve done and go: ‘Wow, what an achievement what the team has created in under three years,’” he says. “Then the following moment you consider: ‘Yeah, we still have a significant amount to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Challenge
Chester enjoyed success at Renault in Alonso's championship-winning years of 2005 and 2006 and was in command of technical direction at the then-new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no previous experience has quite compared with the challenge of introducing the iconic American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the owner, General Motors Corporation, into Formula One.
“Creating an F1 team from nothing, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” Chester remarks. “It is like nothing else. In an existing team you won't have the chance to change team culture.”
With every day that goes by thoughts are sharper on the approaching critical moment in Australia and goals are being set realistically.
“You have to assume that any new team coming in is probably going to finish last but merely participating will be an achievement in itself,” Graeme Lowdon noted earlier this year and while the CTO agreed with this sentiment he thought the squad had a reputation to build as well.
“Our primary goal we want to show is that we should be there,” he emphasizes. “In order that we arrive and we operate well. We aim to demonstrate that we’re a proper team executing the proper actions on the circuit. After we’ve shown that we’re really credible, then we want to show improvement after that.”
Pilot Selection and Hiring Push
In late summer they recruited Sergio Pérez and Valtteri as their pilots for the 2026 season, a tandem remarkable for their vast knowledge in competing at the sharp end in two top-tier teams, Red Bull and Mercedes-AMG, and Bottas expressed the sentiment of combative optimism.
“Certainly, we are pragmatic,” he said. “There’s going to be a massive task to do, and it will likely be probably a difficult start, because it is F1. But our goal isn't to remain at the rear. I am confident given this organization, with these individuals, this staff, there’s no reason why we can't manage to progress rapidly up to the pace and taste victory.”
To realize that ambition recruitment has been in overdrive, with personnel now at more than 400 and intended to reach the target of 600 members rapidly. In addition to their current base at the Silverstone circuit, the organization are in the phase of completing an HQ at the Fishers location in Indy and there is the General Motors facility in North Carolina, where they are constructing the facility to build the new engine, set for 2029 – until then they will use Ferrari power units – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Germany. It is a sophisticated organization, at odds with the trend in F1 for greater centralisation, and has inspired the new cultural approach to which the CTO referred to.
Apollo Inspiration
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo project,” stated the team principal shortly before the British Grand Prix in July. “We’re realistic, we understand how challenging it is. The deadlines, they’re super, super, super short. Alright, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have implemented, instead of the conventional chain of command, a flat management structure akin to that of Nasa’s, where there were a variety of project teams all working on distinct elements of the program at a variety of locations.
“When you must follow a procedure where a challenge emerges and they report it to their team leader, that manager consults a manager in another department, it is relayed back, it becomes inefficient,” says Chester. “So we empower staff to handle things directly. Eliminating management approval for all decisions is so much cleaner and quicker.”
What Lies Ahead
The effectiveness of this nimble strategy will be tested in the pressure of racing when the season begins and there is no little amount at stake for Formula One, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their development driver the young American Colton Herta
