Just over one year previously at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally granted the green light as the world of Formula One's latest entrant for 2026. Building the squad from scratch has required a hectic operating tempo that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo program. As the sport arrives on the Vegas strip this race weekend, the team understand the clock is ticking.
The Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the season finale of the campaign to be hosted in the United States, with approximately three months to go before they make their debut for the first time in Australia at the first race of 2026, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a monumental endeavor, they are cognizant there will never be sufficient time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, became part of the newly formed operation in early 2023 soon after it was created, when the team were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its heart from that point and has a knowing grin when reflecting on the experience.
“You might get five minutes looking back at what the team has achieved and go: ‘Amazing, how impressive what we have built in less than three years,’” he says. “And then the following moment you realize: ‘Yes, we’ve still got a great deal to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Opportunity
The CTO achieved victories at the Renault team in the driver Fernando Alonso's championship-winning seasons of 2005/2006 and was in charge of technical development at the new Mercedes Formula E team, but nothing has quite compared with the task of bringing the all-American Cadillac marque, a works entry supported by the parent company, General Motors, into F1.
“Creating an Formula One team from scratch, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he says. “There's nothing comparable. In an established team you don’t get the chance to alter team culture.”
With each passing day that elapses minds are more focused on the impending moment of truth in the Australian GP and targets are being set realistically.
“One must presume that any incoming team entering the sport is likely to start at the back but simply getting on to the grid will be an accomplishment in itself,” Lowdon noted this year and while Nick Chester shared this view he thought the team had a reputation to build as well.
“The initial objective we want to show is that we deserve to be there,” Chester explains. “In order that we turn up and we perform competently. We want to show that we’re a proper team performing the right things on the race track. After we have demonstrated that we are a legitimate team, then we want to show improvement from there on.”
Driver Lineup and Team Building Drive
In the summer they signed Sergio Pérez and Valtteri as their pilots for the 2026 season, a pair notable for their vast knowledge in operating at the leading positions in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull and the Mercedes team, and Valtteri Bottas expressed the sentiment of determined optimism.
“Of course, we’re realistic,” he commented. “We have a huge amount of work to do, and it will likely be almost certainly a difficult start, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we aren't joining to remain at the rear. I believe given this organization, with these individuals, these people, it's entirely possible we shouldn’t be able to progress rapidly up to the pace and taste victory.”
To achieve that goal hiring has been in overdrive, with staff now at in excess of 400 and planned to hit the target of 600 rapidly. In addition to their existing facility at Silverstone, the organization are in the midst of building an headquarters at the Fishers location in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM works in North Carolina, where they are constructing the center to manufacture the power unit, planned for 2029 – in the meantime they will run Ferrari power units – and the aerodynamic facility in Germany. It is a complex organization, at odds with the direction in the sport for increased consolidation, and has prompted the fresh organizational mindset to which the CTO referred to.
Apollo Inspiration
“It's closely based on the Apollo project,” remarked Lowdon ahead of the British GP in mid-season. “We have a clear-eyed view, we know how tough it is. The schedules, are incredibly tight. Well, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it can seem that way.”
So they have adopted, instead of the usual hierarchical system, a decentralized management comparable to that of Nasa’s, where there were a variety of Apollo teams all focusing on distinct elements of the project in a different facilities.
“If you have to go through a protocol where an issue arises and they report it to their supervisor, that manager talks to a manager at a different location, it is relayed back, it becomes inefficient,” notes Chester. “So we empower people to handle things directly. Avoiding management approval for everything is far more efficient and more rapid.”
What Lies Ahead
The success of this flexible strategy will be proven in the pressure of racing in 2026 and there is a considerable amount riding on this for F1, too. Cadillac have recruited as their development driver the young Californian Colton Herta
