Just over a full year ago at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally granted the green light as the world of Formula One's most recent entrant for 2026. Building the squad from the ground up has entailed a intense operating tempo that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo moon landing. As the sport converges on Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac are aware time is getting tight.
The Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the season finale of the championship to be held in the United States, with approximately 100 days to go before they make their debut for the maiden outing in Australia at the first race of 2026, the Cadillac F1 project have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a monumental endeavor, they are cognizant there will not be sufficient time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, came aboard the newly formed operation in March 2023 soon after it was created, when the squad were without even an official entry. He has been at its heart from that point and gets a amused expression when considering the journey.
“You can have a brief moment looking back at what you have accomplished and say: ‘Amazing, how impressive what we have built in a short three-year period,’” Chester states. “Then the very next instant you realize: ‘Yes, there is still a great deal to do.’”
An Unprecedented Task
Chester had success at Renault in Alonso's title-winning seasons of 2005/2006 and was in charge of engineering strategy at the new Mercedes electric racing team, but no previous experience has quite compared with the task of introducing the quintessentially American Cadillac brand, a manufacturer-backed entry sponsored by the owner, GM, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Establishing an grand prix team from scratch, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he observes. “There's nothing comparable. In an established team you won't have the chance to transform cultural approach.”
With each passing day that elapses minds are increasingly concentrated on the impending decisive point in Australia and targets are being managed.
“One must presume that any incoming team joining the grid is probably going to finish last but just making it to the starting line will be an feat in itself,” Graeme Lowdon stated recently and while the CTO agreed with this sentiment he believed the squad had a point to prove as well.
“The first thing we aim to demonstrate is that we should be there,” Chester explains. “So we show up and we function efficiently. We aim to demonstrate that this is a professional operation executing the correct procedures on the track. Once we have demonstrated that we’re really credible, then we aim to demonstrate progression subsequently.”
Driver Lineup and Hiring Drive
In late summer they contracted Checo Pérez and Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a duo notable for their invaluable experience in performing at the sharp end in two championship-winning squads, the Red Bull team and Mercedes, and Bottas echoed the sentiment of combative optimism.
“Of course, we are pragmatic,” Bottas stated. “There’s going to be a huge amount of work to do, and we expect almost certainly a difficult start, because this is Formula One. But we’re not there to stay at the back. I believe with this structure, with this team, this staff, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to progress rapidly to a competitive level and enjoy some success.”
To achieve that goal hiring has been in full swing, with staff now up to in excess of 400 and planned to reach the objective of 600 members rapidly. In addition to their existing facility at the UK base, the organization are in the process of completing an main base at Fishers in Indianapolis and there is the General Motors facility in North Carolina, where they are constructing the plant to build the 2029 engine, scheduled for 2029 – in the meantime they will operate with power from Ferrari – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Germany. It is a complex structure, different from the direction in F1 for greater centralisation, and has inspired the fresh organizational mindset to which the CTO referred to.
Apollo Model
“It's closely based on the Apollo program,” remarked Lowdon just before the British GP in July. “We are pragmatic, we recognize how difficult it is. The timelines, are extremely compressed. OK, it's not a space expedition, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have embraced, instead of the traditional management structure, a flat management structure comparable to that of the space agency's, where there were a range of project teams all tackling various components of the mission in a multiple sites.
“When you must follow a process where someone has a problem and they report it to their supervisor, that leader communicates with a leader at a different location, it goes back down the chain, it’s super slow,” says the CTO. “Therefore we enable people to handle things directly. Eliminating managerial sign-off for each action is much smoother and faster.”
Upcoming Challenges
The effectiveness of this flexible strategy will be evaluated in the pressure of racing in 2026 and there is no little amount on the line for Formula One, too. Cadillac have recruited as their reserve driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta
