A little more than a full year ago at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last granted the go-ahead as F1's latest entrant for 2026. Constructing the team from the ground up has entailed a hectic work rate that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo program. As Formula One converges on Vegas this race weekend, the team know time is getting tight.
The Race Against Time to Australia
At the last event of the championship to be staged in the America, with approximately a hundred days to go before they make their debut for the maiden outing in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac 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 CTO, Nick Chester, joined the newly formed project in early 2023 shortly after it was created, when the team were without even an approved entry. He has been at its heart ever since and gets a knowing grin when considering the experience.
“You might get a short period reflecting at what you have accomplished and think: ‘Wow, isn’t this fantastic what the team has created in less than three years,’” he says. “And then the following moment you consider: ‘Yes, we’ve still got a significant amount to do.’”
A Unique Challenge
The CTO achieved victories at Renault in the driver Fernando Alonso's title-winning years of 2005/2006 and was in control 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 quintessentially American Cadillac name, a factory team sponsored by the parent company, General Motors Corporation, into Formula One.
“Building an F1 team from the ground up, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he says. “There's nothing comparable. In an established team you don’t get the opportunity to alter organizational mindset.”
With each passing day that passes minds are increasingly concentrated on the approaching decisive point in the Australian GP and goals are being set realistically.
“One must presume that a brand-new squad coming in is going to be last but merely participating will be an feat in itself,” Lowdon stated this year and while the CTO echoed this he thought the squad had a statement to make as well.
“Our primary goal we aim to demonstrate is that we should be there,” Chester explains. “So that we show up and we perform competently. We want to show that this is a professional operation executing the proper actions on the circuit. Once we have demonstrated that we’re really credible, then we aim to demonstrate improvement after that.”
Racing Talent and Recruitment Effort
In August they recruited Checo Pérez and Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a duo notable for their invaluable experience in performing at the leading positions in two championship-winning squads, the Red Bull team and the Mercedes team, and Bottas reflected the sentiment of combative optimism.
“Naturally, we are pragmatic,” he commented. “There’s going to be a huge amount of work to do, and it will likely be almost certainly a difficult start, because this is Formula One. But we’re not there to remain at the rear. In my view with this setup, with this group, these personnel, it's entirely possible we can't manage to progress rapidly to a competitive level and enjoy some success.”
To that end recruitment has been in full swing, with personnel now up to more than 400 and planned to hit the objective of six hundred swiftly. Alongside their current base at the Silverstone circuit, the team are in the process of completing an main base at Fishers in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are building the plant to manufacture the power unit, planned for 2029 – in the meantime they will run Ferrari engines – and the aerodynamic facility in Germany. It is a intricate organization, contrary to the direction in F1 for increased consolidation, and has led to the new cultural approach to which Nick Chester referred.
Apollo Model
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo program,” said the team principal just before the British GP in the summer. “We’re realistic, we recognize how difficult it is. The schedules, are incredibly tight. OK, it's not a space expedition, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have implemented, rather than the conventional chain of command, a non-hierarchical approach comparable to that of Nasa’s, where there were a variety of project teams all focusing on various components of the program in a variety of locations.
“When you must follow a protocol where an issue arises and they raise it up to their manager, that supervisor talks to a leader in another department, it is relayed back, the process is very slow,” says the CTO. “We give authority to people to take charge. Eliminating hierarchical consent for everything is much smoother and more rapid.”
What Lies Ahead
The success of this flexible methodology will be proven in the heat of competition when the season begins and there is no little amount at stake for F1, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their test driver the emerging American Colton Herta
