A little more than twelve months ago at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately awarded the green light as Formula One’s most recent entry for the 2026 season. Establishing the organization from nothing has entailed a hectic operating tempo that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo program. As F1 descends on the Vegas strip this weekend, Cadillac understand the deadline is approaching.
The Countdown to Australia
At the last event of the championship to be held in the United States, with approximately three months to go before they take to the track for the inaugural time in Melbourne at the first race of 2026, the Cadillac F1 project have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a monumental endeavor, they are aware there will not be sufficient time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, joined the nascent team in March 2023 soon after it was created, when the team were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its center since then and has a amused expression when reflecting on the ride.
“There might be a short period thinking back at what you’ve done and go: ‘Amazing, isn’t this fantastic what the team has created in under three years,’” he says. “And then the next minute you consider: ‘Well, we still have quite a lot to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Opportunity
Nick Chester achieved victories at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s title-winning years of 2005 and 2006 and was in control of technical direction at the new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but nothing has been quite like the task of introducing the iconic American Cadillac marque, a works entry sponsored by the corporate entity, GM, into Formula One.
“Building an F1 team from scratch, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he says. “There's nothing comparable. In an well-set team you rarely get the chance to change cultural approach.”
With every day that elapses thoughts are more focused on the approaching moment of truth in the Australian GP and targets are being managed.
“You have to assume that a brand-new squad joining the grid is probably going to finish last but merely participating will be an accomplishment in itself,” the team principal commented recently and while the CTO echoed this he felt the team had a statement to make as well.
“The first thing we want to show is that we belong on the grid,” he emphasizes. “So that we show up and we perform competently. We seek to prove that we’re a proper team performing the right things on the circuit. Once we’ve shown that our credentials are solid, then we want to show improvement after that.”
Driver Lineup and Hiring Push
In the summer they contracted Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their pilots for 2026, a pair distinguished for their priceless expertise in competing at the leading positions in two top-tier teams, Red Bull Racing and the Mercedes team, and Valtteri Bottas echoed the attitude of fighting spirit.
“Of course, we’re realistic,” he said. “We face a massive task to do, and it’s going to be almost certainly a difficult start, because this is Formula One. But we’re not there to finish last. In my view given this organization, with this team, this staff, there’s no reason why we can't manage to progress rapidly to a competitive level and taste victory.”
To that end staff acquisition has been in overdrive, with staff now at in excess of 400 and intended to hit the target of six hundred quickly. Complementing their existing facility at Silverstone, the organization are in the midst of building an headquarters at Fishers in Indianapolis and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are building the plant to manufacture the new engine, set for 2029 – until then they will operate with Ferrari engines – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne. It is a complex structure, contrary to the direction in the sport for increased consolidation, and has inspired the new cultural approach to which the CTO referred to.
Space Mission Model
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo project,” said Lowdon ahead of the British GP in July. “We are pragmatic, we know how challenging it is. The schedules, are extremely compressed. Well, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have implemented, as opposed to the traditional management structure, a non-hierarchical approach similar to that of the space agency's, where there were a assortment of Apollo teams all working on distinct elements of the mission in a multiple sites.
“When you must follow a process where a challenge emerges and they escalate it to their supervisor, that leader consults a supervisor somewhere else, it travels back down, the process is very slow,” says the CTO. “We give authority to people to really get on with it. Avoiding hierarchical consent for all decisions is much smoother and quicker.”
Upcoming Challenges
The efficacy of this agile methodology will be evaluated in the intensity of Grand Prix in 2026 and there is a significant degree on the line for Formula One, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their development driver the emerging American Colton Herta
