A little more than a full year in the past at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally awarded the go-ahead as F1's most recent participant for the 2026 season. Establishing the organization from the ground up has required a frenetic work rate that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo moon landing. As Formula One arrives on Vegas this race weekend, the team are aware the deadline is approaching.
The Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the last event of the season to be staged in the US, with approximately a hundred days to go before they make their debut for the inaugural time in Melbourne at the first race of 2026, the Cadillac F1 project have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a sisyphean task, they are conscious there will never be adequate time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, became part of the nascent project in early 2023 not long after it was established, when the organization were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its heart ever since and enjoys a wry smile when thinking about the ride.
“You can have five minutes reflecting at what you’ve done and say: ‘Amazing, how impressive what the team has created in under three years,’” Chester states. “And then the very next instant you consider: ‘Yes, we’ve still got a great deal to do.’”
A Unique Challenge
Chester enjoyed success at the Renault team in Alonso's title-winning campaigns of 2005/2006 and was in charge of technical development at the recently formed Mercedes electric racing team, but no previous experience has truly matched the mission of introducing the all-American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry sponsored by the owner, General Motors, into F1.
“Creating an grand prix team from nothing, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he says. “There's nothing comparable. In an existing team you won't have the opportunity to alter team culture.”
With every day that goes by thoughts are increasingly concentrated on the approaching moment of truth in Melbourne and targets are being set realistically.
“One must presume that a brand-new squad joining the grid is going to be last but just making it to the starting line will be an accomplishment in itself,” the team principal commented this year and while the CTO echoed this he felt the organization had a statement to make as well.
“Our primary goal we intend to prove is that we belong on the grid,” Chester explains. “In order that we turn up and we function efficiently. We aim to demonstrate that we are a serious contender performing the correct procedures on the circuit. After we’ve shown that we’re really credible, then we will focus on forward movement subsequently.”
Pilot Selection and Team Building Drive
In late summer they signed Sergio Perez and Valtteri as their drivers for the 2026 season, a duo distinguished for their priceless expertise in performing at the leading positions in two top-tier teams, Red Bull Racing and the Mercedes team, and the Finnish driver echoed the mood of fighting spirit.
“Certainly, we have a realistic outlook,” Bottas stated. “We have a massive task to do, and we expect almost certainly a challenging beginning, because it is F1. But our goal isn't to remain at the rear. I am confident with this structure, with this team, these people, it's entirely possible we shouldn’t be able to progress rapidly up to the pace and taste victory.”
To that end staff acquisition has been in top gear, with employees now at over 400 and planned to reach the target of 600 swiftly. Alongside their existing facility at the Silverstone circuit, the team are in the process of completing an headquarters at the Fishers location in Indy and there is the General Motors facility in North Carolina, where they are constructing the center to build the 2029 engine, set for the 2029 season – for now they will operate with Ferrari power units – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne, Germany. It is a sophisticated organisation, contrary to the trend in Formula One for greater centralisation, and has inspired the new cultural approach to which the CTO referred.
Apollo Blueprint
“It's closely based on the NASA moon mission,” stated the team principal just before the Silverstone race in July. “We are pragmatic, we recognize how tough it is. The timelines, are extremely compressed. Alright, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have adopted, rather than the conventional chain of command, a non-hierarchical approach similar to that of the space agency's, where there were a assortment of specialist groups all focusing on different aspects of the program across a variety of locations.
“If you have to go through a procedure where someone has a problem and they report it to their supervisor, that manager consults a supervisor at a different location, it is relayed back, it’s super slow,” says Nick Chester. “We give authority to staff to handle things directly. Avoiding hierarchical consent for all decisions is so much cleaner and quicker.”
The Future
The effectiveness of this nimble approach will be evaluated in the intensity of Grand Prix in 2026 and there is no little amount on the line for F1, too. The Cadillac team have taken on as their reserve driver the young American Colton Herta
