Approximately one year ago at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally given the go-ahead as F1's newest participant for the 2026 season. Constructing the squad from scratch has entailed a frenetic work rate that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo program. As Formula One converges on the Vegas strip this race weekend, the team understand the clock is ticking.
The Tight Timeline to Melbourne
At the season finale of the championship to be staged in the United States, with around 100 days to go before they hit the circuit for the maiden outing in Melbourne at the 2026 opener, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a never-ending challenge, they are aware there will never be adequate time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, became part of the nascent team in March 2023 soon after it was established, when the team were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its center since then and enjoys a wry smile when considering the journey.
“You can have a brief moment reflecting at what you have accomplished and say: ‘Incredible, how impressive what the team has created in less than three years,’” he notes. “And then the following moment you consider: ‘Well, there is still a great deal to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Challenge
Chester achieved victories at Renault in the driver Fernando Alonso's title-winning seasons of 2005 and 2006 and was in command of technical direction at the recently formed Mercedes Formula E team, but nothing has been quite like the challenge of launching the all-American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the parent company, GM, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Establishing an Formula One team from the ground up, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he observes. “There's nothing comparable. In an well-set team you rarely get the possibility to alter team culture.”
With each passing day that passes focus are sharper on the approaching critical moment in Melbourne and targets are being managed.
“One must presume that any new team entering the sport is probably going to finish last but simply getting on to the grid will be an accomplishment in itself,” the team principal stated this year and while Nick Chester echoed this he believed the squad had a reputation to build as well.
“The first thing we intend to prove is that we belong on the grid,” he says. “In order that we turn up and we function efficiently. We want to show that we’re a proper team executing the proper actions on the circuit. After we have demonstrated that we are a legitimate team, then we will focus on forward movement subsequently.”
Pilot Selection and Recruitment Push
In August they signed Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their pilots for the 2026 season, a pair remarkable for their priceless expertise in performing at the leading positions in two top-tier teams, the Red Bull team and the Mercedes team, and Valtteri Bottas reflected the mood of fighting spirit.
“Naturally, we’re realistic,” he commented. “We have a massive task to do, and it will likely be almost certainly a tough opening, because it is F1. But we’re not there to stay at the back. In my view with this setup, with this team, this staff, there is every reason that we shouldn’t be able to get relatively quickly up to the pace and enjoy some success.”
To that end hiring has been in top gear, with employees now at over 400 and scheduled to reach the goal of 600 rapidly. Alongside their existing facility at the Silverstone circuit, the team are in the phase of completing an main base at the Fishers location in Indy and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are building the center to produce the 2029 engine, planned for 2029 – in the meantime they will run power from Ferrari – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a complex organization, at odds with the movement in F1 for more centralization, and has inspired the new cultural approach to which Chester referred to.
Apollo Blueprint
“It's closely based on the Apollo program,” said Graeme Lowdon shortly before the Silverstone race in mid-season. “We are pragmatic, we know how challenging it is. The deadlines, are extremely compressed. Alright, it's not a space expedition, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have implemented, instead of the usual hierarchical system, 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 mission across a multiple sites.
“If you have to go through a protocol where someone has a problem and they report it to their team leader, that manager consults a manager somewhere else, it goes back down the chain, it becomes inefficient,” notes the CTO. “So we empower staff to really get on with it. Avoiding management approval for all decisions is much smoother and more rapid.”
The Future
The success of this flexible strategy will be proven in the intensity of Grand Prix in 2026 and there is no little amount riding on this for Formula One, too. The Cadillac team have taken on as their reserve driver the young American Colton Herta
