Just over twelve months ago at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were at last granted the go-ahead as Formula One’s latest entry for the 2026 season. Building the organization from nothing has required a intense operating tempo that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo program. As F1 arrives on Las Vegas this weekend, the team understand the clock is ticking.
The Countdown to Australia
At the final race of the season to be staged in the US, with approximately a hundred days to go before they hit the circuit 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 sisyphean task, they are aware there will not be sufficient time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, became part of the nascent project in early 2023 shortly after it was established, when the squad were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its core since then and has a knowing grin when thinking about the experience.
“You might get a brief moment looking back at what you have accomplished and say: ‘Amazing, isn’t this fantastic what we’ve done in less than three years,’” Chester states. “Then the next minute you think: ‘Yeah, we still have a great deal to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Task
Chester achieved victories at the Renault team in Alonso's victorious years of 2005 and 2006 and was in command of technical direction at the then-new Mercedes Formula E team, but no previous experience has been quite like the task of introducing the all-American Cadillac name, a factory team sponsored by the owner, GM, into Formula One.
“Establishing an Formula One team from scratch, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he observes. “It's unparalleled. In an established team you rarely get the possibility to change cultural approach.”
With every day that goes by thoughts are more focused on the impending critical moment in the Australian GP and goals are being handled.
“You have to assume that any new team joining the grid is probably going to finish last but just making it to the starting line will be an feat in itself,” the team principal stated recently and while Chester agreed with this sentiment he felt the organization had a point to prove as well.
“Our primary goal we intend to prove is that we deserve to be there,” Chester explains. “So we show up and we operate well. We aim to demonstrate that we’re a proper team doing the proper actions on the circuit. Once we have demonstrated that our credentials are solid, then we will focus on forward movement after that.”
Driver Lineup and Team Building Push
In the summer they contracted Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their pilots for the 2026 season, a duo notable for their invaluable experience in competing at the sharp end in two championship-winning squads, the Red Bull team and the Mercedes team, and Valtteri Bottas expressed the mood of fighting spirit.
“Naturally, we are pragmatic,” Bottas stated. “We face a mountain of work to do, and we expect almost certainly a tough opening, because it's the top level of motorsport. But our goal isn't to stay at the back. I am confident with this setup, with these individuals, these personnel, there is every reason that we shouldn’t be able to progress rapidly to a competitive level and achieve good results.”
To achieve that goal hiring has been in top gear, with personnel now up to more than 400 and intended to reach the goal of 600 swiftly. Alongside their current base at Silverstone, the organization are in the phase of building an headquarters at Fishers, Indiana in Indy and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are constructing the facility to manufacture the 2029 engine, scheduled for the 2029 season – until then they will run power from Ferrari – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Germany. It is a intricate organisation, different from the trend in the sport for increased consolidation, and has prompted the new cultural approach to which the CTO alluded.
Apollo Model
“It’s highly modelled on the NASA moon mission,” stated the team principal shortly before the British GP in mid-season. “We have a clear-eyed view, we understand how challenging it is. The schedules, they’re super, super, super short. Alright, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have adopted, instead of the traditional management structure, a flat management structure comparable to that of NASA's, where there were a variety of project teams all tackling various components of the program in a variety of locations.
“When you must follow a procedure where a challenge emerges and they raise it up to their manager, that leader communicates with a manager somewhere else, it is relayed back, it becomes inefficient,” explains Chester. “So we empower people to really get on with it. Eliminating hierarchical consent for all decisions is far more efficient and faster.”
Upcoming Challenges
The effectiveness of this agile approach will be proven in the pressure of racing in 2026 and there is no little amount at stake for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their test driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
