Approximately twelve months ago at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally awarded the official approval as the world of Formula One's latest entry for 2026. Constructing the organization from scratch has entailed a intense work rate that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo program. As F1 descends on Las Vegas this weekend, Cadillac understand the clock is ticking.
The Countdown to Australia
At the final race of the campaign to be staged in the US, with around 100 days to go before they take to the track for the first time in Australia at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a monumental task, they are aware there will not be enough hours in the day.
The CTO, Nick Chester, became part of the newly formed project in the spring of 2023 shortly after it was created, when the squad were without even an official entry. He has been at its core since then and enjoys a wry smile when reflecting on the experience.
“There might be a brief moment thinking back at what the team has achieved and say: ‘Incredible, how impressive what we’ve done in less than three years,’” he says. “But then the next minute you consider: ‘Yes, we’ve still got a significant amount to do.’”
An Unprecedented Task
Nick Chester achieved victories at Renault in Alonso's title-winning years of 2005 and 2006 and was in charge of technical development at the recently formed Mercedes electric racing team, but nothing has quite compared with the mission of introducing the quintessentially American Cadillac brand, a works entry supported by the parent company, General Motors Corporation, into Formula One.
“Creating an Formula One team from nothing, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he observes. “It is like nothing else. In an existing team you don’t get the chance to alter cultural approach.”
With each day that elapses focus are more focused on the impending moment of truth in Melbourne and expectations are being handled.
“It's reasonable to expect that any new team entering the sport is likely to start at the back but simply getting on to the grid will be an accomplishment in itself,” the team principal stated recently and while the CTO shared this view he believed the team had a reputation to build as well.
“The initial objective we aim to demonstrate is that we should be there,” he emphasizes. “So that we arrive and we operate well. We aim to demonstrate that this is a professional operation executing the correct procedures on the track. Once we’ve shown that we are a legitimate team, then we will focus on forward movement after that.”
Driver Lineup and Recruitment Drive
In late summer they recruited Checo Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their drivers for the 2026 season, a pair distinguished for their priceless expertise in performing at the leading positions in two of the sport’s biggest teams, the Red Bull team and the Mercedes team, and Bottas echoed the attitude of determined optimism.
“Of course, we are pragmatic,” Bottas stated. “We have a massive task to do, and it will likely be most likely a challenging beginning, because this is Formula One. But we aren't joining to finish last. In my view with this setup, with this team, this staff, it's entirely possible we shouldn’t be able to progress rapidly to the front and taste victory.”
To that end staff acquisition has been in overdrive, with employees now at in excess of 400 and scheduled to hit the target of six hundred rapidly. Alongside their existing facility at the UK base, the organization are in the process of finishing an main base at Fishers in Indianapolis and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, where they are constructing the center to build the power unit, planned for 2029 – for now they will run Ferrari power units – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne, Germany. It is a sophisticated organization, at odds with the trend in F1 for more centralization, and has led to the new cultural approach to which the CTO referred to.
Apollo Inspiration
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo program,” said Lowdon shortly before the British Grand Prix in the summer. “We’re realistic, we recognize how challenging it is. The timelines, are incredibly tight. OK, it's not a space expedition, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have embraced, as opposed to the conventional chain of command, a non-hierarchical approach similar to that of NASA's, where there were a variety of Apollo teams all tackling various components of the program in a different facilities.
“In a system where you follow a protocol where a challenge emerges and they report it to their supervisor, that manager communicates with a manager somewhere else, it goes back down the chain, the process is very slow,” says Nick Chester. “So we empower staff to really get on with it. Moving away from management approval for each action is far more efficient and quicker.”
The Future
The effectiveness of this flexible approach will be tested in the intensity of Grand Prix when the season begins and there is no little amount at stake for Formula One, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their test driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta
