Approximately a full year previously at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally given the green light as Formula One’s latest participant for 2026. Building the squad from scratch has involved a hectic operating tempo that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo moon landing. As F1 descends on Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac are aware the clock is ticking.
The Race Against Time to Australia
At the final race of the championship to be held in the America, with approximately three months to go before they take to the track for the maiden outing in Australia at the 2026 opener, the Cadillac F1 project have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a monumental challenge, they are aware there will never be sufficient time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, joined the newly formed project in early 2023 not long after it was established, when the organization were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its core from that point and gets a knowing grin when considering the ride.
“You can have a short period thinking back at what the team has achieved and say: ‘Wow, how impressive what we’ve done in less than three years,’” he says. “And then the next minute you realize: ‘Yeah, we’ve still got a significant amount to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Challenge
Chester had success at Renault in Alonso's championship-winning years of the mid-2000s and was in charge of engineering strategy at the then-new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no other project has truly matched the mission of launching the quintessentially American Cadillac brand, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the parent company, GM, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Creating an F1 team from the ground up, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he says. “It is like nothing else. In an well-set team you won't have the possibility to change organizational mindset.”
With each passing day that goes by focus are more focused on the approaching critical moment in Australia and expectations are being set realistically.
“You have to assume that any new team joining the grid is going to be last but just making it to the starting line will be an feat in itself,” Graeme Lowdon commented recently and while the CTO agreed with this sentiment he felt the squad had a statement to make as well.
“The initial objective we intend to prove is that we belong on the grid,” Chester explains. “In order that we arrive and we perform competently. We want to show that we are a serious contender performing the right things on the circuit. Once we have demonstrated that our credentials are solid, then we want to show forward movement after that.”
Racing Talent and Hiring Effort
In the summer they contracted Checo Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their racers for 2026, a duo remarkable for their invaluable experience in operating at the front in two top-tier teams, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes, and Valtteri Bottas reflected the sentiment of combative optimism.
“Naturally, we’re realistic,” he commented. “We have a mountain of work to do, and we expect probably a tough opening, because it is F1. But our goal isn't to remain at the rear. In my view with this structure, with these individuals, these people, it's entirely possible we can't manage to get relatively quickly to the front and enjoy some success.”
To realize that ambition recruitment has been in top gear, with employees now at over 400 and scheduled to reach the goal of 600 rapidly. Complementing their existing facility at the UK base, the organization are in the phase of building an main base at the Fishers location in Indy and there is the GM works in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are constructing the facility to produce the power unit, set for 2029 – in the meantime they will operate with Ferrari power units – and the aerodynamic facility in Germany. It is a sophisticated structure, at odds with the movement in Formula One for increased consolidation, and has led to the new cultural approach to which Chester referred.
Apollo Model
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo project,” said the team principal ahead of the Silverstone race in mid-season. “We are pragmatic, we recognize how difficult it is. The timelines, are extremely compressed. OK, it's not a space expedition, but it can seem that way.”
So they have adopted, as opposed to the usual hierarchical system, a non-hierarchical approach comparable to that of Nasa’s, where there were a assortment of Apollo teams all tackling different aspects of the program at a multiple sites.
“In a system where you follow a procedure where a challenge emerges and they raise it up to their manager, that manager communicates with a leader at a different location, it goes back down the chain, it becomes inefficient,” notes the CTO. “Therefore we enable team members to handle things directly. Eliminating hierarchical consent for everything is much smoother and more rapid.”
Upcoming Challenges
The success of this agile strategy will be tested in the pressure of racing when the season begins and there is a significant degree on the line for Formula One, too. The Cadillac team have taken on as their development driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
