A little more than a full year ago at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally given the green light as the world of Formula One's latest participant for the 2026 season. Constructing the team from scratch has entailed a hectic work rate that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo program. As Formula One arrives on Vegas this weekend, Cadillac understand the deadline is approaching.
The Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the last event of the season to be hosted in the United States, with approximately 100 days to go before they take to the track for the first time in Australia at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a never-ending task, they are aware there will never be sufficient time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, became part of the embryonic operation in March 2023 soon after it was created, when the organization were without even an approved entry. He has been at its heart from that point and enjoys a amused expression when reflecting on the experience.
“You can have five minutes reflecting at what you have accomplished and think: ‘Wow, how impressive what we have built in less than three years,’” he notes. “Then the following moment you think: ‘Yeah, we still have a great deal to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Opportunity
Chester achieved victories at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s title-winning years of the mid-2000s and was in control of technical direction at the recently formed Mercedes electric racing team, but no other project has truly matched the mission of launching the all-American Cadillac name, a works entry sponsored by the parent company, GM, into Formula One.
“Building an grand prix team from scratch, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he says. “It is like nothing else. In an existing team you won't have the opportunity to change team culture.”
With each passing day that elapses focus are more focused on the approaching moment of truth in Melbourne and targets are being set realistically.
“It's reasonable to expect that any new team joining the grid is likely to start at the back but merely participating will be an accomplishment in itself,” Graeme Lowdon stated earlier this year and while Nick Chester shared this view he felt the organization had a statement to make as well.
“The initial objective we intend to prove is that we belong on the grid,” he says. “So that we arrive and we function efficiently. We aim to demonstrate that this is a professional operation doing the proper actions on the circuit. Once we prove that we are a legitimate team, then we will focus on improvement subsequently.”
Racing Talent and Team Building Push
In the summer they recruited Sergio Pérez and Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a duo remarkable for their invaluable experience in operating at the leading positions in two championship-winning squads, the Red Bull team and the Mercedes team, and the Finnish driver echoed the attitude of fighting spirit.
“Naturally, we’re realistic,” he said. “We have a mountain of work to do, and it’s going to be almost certainly a tough opening, because this is Formula One. But we’re not there to stay at the back. I am confident given this organization, with this team, these people, there is every reason that we won't be able to advance swiftly to the front and achieve good results.”
To that end recruitment has been in top gear, with employees now up to more than 400 and intended to attain the goal of 600 members rapidly. In addition to their existing facility at Silverstone, the squad are in the process of building an HQ at Fishers in the Indianapolis area and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, where they are constructing the facility to manufacture the 2029 engine, planned for 2029 – for now they will operate with Ferrari power units – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Germany. It is a intricate structure, at odds with the movement in Formula One for increased consolidation, and has inspired the new cultural approach to which the CTO referred.
Space Mission Blueprint
“It's closely based on the Apollo program,” said Lowdon shortly before the British GP in the summer. “We have a clear-eyed view, we know how challenging it is. The deadlines, they’re super, super, super short. Well, it's not a space expedition, but it can seem that way.”
So they have adopted, instead of the traditional management structure, a flat management structure comparable to that of the space agency's, where there were a assortment of Apollo teams all working on various components of the project at a multiple sites.
“If you have to go through a process where someone has a problem and they escalate it to their team leader, that leader communicates with a supervisor in another department, it is relayed back, it’s super slow,” says Nick Chester. “Therefore we enable team members to handle things directly. Moving away from hierarchical consent for everything is far more efficient and more rapid.”
The Future
The effectiveness of this nimble methodology will be evaluated in the pressure of racing in 2026 and there is a significant degree riding on this for F1, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their reserve driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta
