Just over a full year ago at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were ultimately awarded the official approval as Formula One’s newest entrant for 2026. Constructing the organization from scratch has required a intense operating tempo that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo program. As F1 arrives on the Vegas strip this weekend, the team understand the clock is ticking.
The Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the final race of the campaign to be hosted in the US, with around 100 days to go before they make their debut for the first time in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a sisyphean endeavor, they are cognizant there will not be enough hours in the day.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, became part of the nascent team in March 2023 not long after it was created, when the team were without even an official entry. He has been at its heart since then and enjoys a amused expression when thinking about the ride.
“You might get a short period thinking back at what you’ve done and go: ‘Amazing, what an achievement what the team has created in less than three years,’” Chester states. “But then the following moment you realize: ‘Yeah, there is still quite a lot to do.’”
A Unique Opportunity
Nick Chester achieved victories at the Renault team in the driver Fernando Alonso's championship-winning years of 2005/2006 and was in command of engineering strategy at the recently formed Mercedes electric racing team, but no other project has been quite like the mission of bringing the all-American Cadillac brand, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the owner, GM, into F1.
“Establishing an grand prix team from the ground up, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he observes. “It is like nothing else. In an established team you rarely get the chance to transform team culture.”
With each passing day that elapses thoughts are more focused on the looming moment of truth in Australia and goals are being managed.
“You have to assume that any new team joining the grid is going to be last but merely participating will be an achievement in itself,” Graeme Lowdon stated this year and while Nick Chester agreed with this sentiment he thought the team had a reputation to build as well.
“The initial objective we want to show is that we belong on the grid,” Chester explains. “So we show up and we perform competently. We want to show that we are a serious contender executing the correct procedures on the track. When we prove that we are a legitimate team, then we will focus on progression after that.”
Pilot Selection and Recruitment Effort
In the summer they recruited Checo Pérez and Bottas as their drivers for the 2026 season, a pair notable for their vast knowledge in performing at the leading positions in two top-tier teams, Red Bull and Mercedes-AMG, and Valtteri Bottas echoed the mood of fighting spirit.
“Certainly, we are pragmatic,” he said. “We have a huge amount of work to do, and it’s going to be most likely a challenging beginning, because it is F1. But we’re not there to remain at the rear. I am confident given this organization, with this team, these people, it's entirely possible we shouldn’t be able to get relatively quickly to the front and enjoy some success.”
To that end recruitment has been in overdrive, with staff now reaching in excess of 400 and scheduled to attain the target of 600 quickly. In addition to their present headquarters at the Silverstone circuit, the organization are in the phase of finishing an headquarters at Fishers, Indiana in Indy and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are developing the facility to build the new engine, scheduled for the 2029 season – until then they will use Ferrari power units – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne. It is a intricate organisation, different from the movement in Formula One for more centralization, and has led to the fresh organizational mindset to which Chester alluded.
Apollo Model
“It's closely based on the NASA moon mission,” said the team principal just before the British GP in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we know how tough it is. The schedules, are incredibly tight. OK, it's not a space expedition, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have embraced, as opposed to the usual hierarchical system, a decentralized management comparable to that of Nasa’s, where there were a variety of Apollo teams all focusing on distinct elements of the project in a multiple sites.
“When you must follow a process where someone has a problem and they escalate it to their team leader, that supervisor consults a manager somewhere else, it is relayed back, it’s super slow,” says the CTO. “We give authority to people to take charge. Eliminating managerial sign-off for each action is far more efficient and faster.”
What Lies Ahead
The effectiveness of this flexible strategy will be proven in the pressure of racing in 2026 and there is a considerable amount riding on this for F1, too. The Cadillac team have taken on as their development driver the young Californian Colton Herta
