Just over a full year ago at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were ultimately awarded the go-ahead as the world of Formula One's newest entrant for the 2026 season. Establishing the squad from the ground up has required a frenetic operating tempo that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo program. As F1 arrives on Las Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac know time is getting tight.
The Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the season finale of the campaign to be staged in the America, with approximately 100 days to go before they take to the track for the inaugural time in Australia at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a sisyphean endeavor, they are aware there will not be adequate time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, joined the newly formed team in the spring of 2023 shortly after it was formed, when the organization were without even an approved entry. He has been at its center ever since and has a knowing grin when thinking about the ride.
“You can have a short period reflecting at what you’ve done and go: ‘Incredible, what an achievement what the team has created in a short three-year period,’” he says. “Then the next minute you consider: ‘Yeah, we still have quite a lot to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Task
Chester had success at the Renault team in Alonso's championship-winning seasons of 2005 and 2006 and was in charge of technical development at the new Mercedes electric racing team, but no other project has truly matched the mission of bringing the all-American Cadillac name, a factory team sponsored by the parent company, GM, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Establishing an Formula One team from nothing, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he observes. “There's nothing comparable. In an existing team you won't have the chance to change cultural approach.”
With each passing day that goes by minds are increasingly concentrated on the looming decisive point in the Australian GP and targets are being set realistically.
“It's reasonable to expect that any incoming team coming in is likely to start at the back but simply getting on to the grid will be an accomplishment in itself,” Graeme Lowdon commented earlier this year and while Chester agreed with this sentiment he thought the squad had a statement to make as well.
“The initial objective we aim to demonstrate is that we deserve to be there,” he emphasizes. “So that we turn up and we operate well. We want to show that we are a serious contender performing the right things on the circuit. When we have demonstrated that we’re really credible, then we will focus on progression after that.”
Racing Talent and Team Building Push
In late summer they signed Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their pilots for the 2026 season, a duo distinguished for their invaluable experience in competing at the front in two top-tier teams, Red Bull and Mercedes-AMG, and Bottas reflected the attitude of combative optimism.
“Of course, we’re realistic,” Bottas stated. “We face a massive task to do, and it’s going to be probably a tough opening, because it is F1. But we’re not there to finish last. In my view with this structure, with this group, this staff, it's entirely possible we won't be able to get relatively quickly to the front and enjoy some success.”
To achieve that goal recruitment has been in full swing, with personnel now up to over 400 and intended to attain the objective of 600 members quickly. In addition to their existing facility at the UK base, the organization are in the midst of finishing an main base at the Fishers location in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM plant in North Carolina, where they are constructing the plant to manufacture the power unit, scheduled for the 2029 season – in the meantime they will run Ferrari power units – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a complex organisation, at odds with the direction in Formula One for increased consolidation, and has inspired the new cultural approach to which the CTO referred.
Apollo Blueprint
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo program,” remarked Lowdon just before the British GP in the summer. “We have a clear-eyed view, we recognize how difficult it is. The deadlines, are extremely compressed. Alright, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it can seem that way.”
So they have embraced, rather than the usual hierarchical system, a flat management structure akin to that of the space agency's, where there were a assortment of Apollo teams all working on different aspects of the program in a different facilities.
“In a system where you follow a process where someone has a problem and they raise it up to their supervisor, that leader consults a supervisor somewhere else, it travels back down, it’s super slow,” explains Chester. “So we empower team members to take charge. Eliminating hierarchical consent for each action is so much cleaner and more rapid.”
Upcoming Challenges
The efficacy of this flexible methodology will be proven in the heat of competition next season and there is a significant degree at stake for the sport, too. Cadillac have signed as their development driver the emerging American Colton Herta
