A little more than one year ago at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were ultimately awarded the green light as Formula One’s newest participant for 2026. Establishing the team from scratch has involved a hectic work rate that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the NASA lunar mission. As Formula One descends on Las Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac are aware time is getting tight.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the final race of the season to be staged in the United States, with around three months to go before they hit the circuit for the first time in Melbourne at the first race of 2026, the Cadillac F1 project have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a never-ending challenge, they are cognizant there will not be sufficient time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, joined the embryonic team in March 2023 shortly after it was formed, when the organization were without even an approved entry. He has been at its core since then and enjoys a amused expression when considering the journey.
“There might be a brief moment looking back at what you’ve done and think: ‘Wow, isn’t this fantastic what we’ve done in less than three years,’” Chester states. “And then the next minute you consider: ‘Yes, we still have quite a lot to do.’”
A Unique Challenge
Chester enjoyed success at Renault in Alonso's victorious seasons of the mid-2000s and was in control of technical development at the recently formed Mercedes electric racing team, but no previous experience has quite compared with the challenge of bringing the iconic American Cadillac brand, a factory team backed by the corporate entity, General Motors, 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's unparalleled. In an existing team you don’t get the possibility to alter team culture.”
With every day that elapses minds are more focused on the approaching moment of truth in the Australian GP and expectations are being set realistically.
“It's reasonable to expect that any incoming team coming in is likely to start at the back but just making it to the starting line will be an accomplishment in itself,” the team principal commented this year and while Nick Chester echoed this he thought the organization had a point to prove as well.
“The initial objective we want to show is that we deserve to be there,” Chester explains. “So that we turn up and we operate well. We want to show that we are a serious contender doing the correct procedures on the race track. When we have demonstrated that we are a legitimate team, then we aim to demonstrate progression after that.”
Driver Lineup and Hiring Effort
In August they recruited Checo Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their pilots for 2026, a pair remarkable for their vast knowledge in competing at the leading positions in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull Racing and the Mercedes team, and Bottas expressed the attitude of fighting spirit.
“Naturally, we’re realistic,” he said. “We face a mountain of work to do, and it will likely be probably a challenging beginning, because it is F1. But we’re not there to stay at the back. In my view with this setup, with these individuals, these personnel, there’s no reason why we won't be able to advance swiftly up to the pace and enjoy some success.”
To realize that ambition staff acquisition has been in top gear, with personnel now up to more than 400 and planned to reach the target of 600 quickly. In addition to their current base at the UK base, the organization are in the process of completing an headquarters at Fishers, Indiana in Indianapolis and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, where they are developing the center to build the new engine, scheduled for the 2029 season – until then they will use Ferrari power units – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne, Germany. It is a complex organization, different from the movement in Formula One for increased consolidation, and has led to the innovative team culture to which Chester referred.
Apollo Model
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo project,” remarked Lowdon shortly before the British Grand Prix in July. “We are pragmatic, we know how tough it is. The timelines, are extremely compressed. OK, it's not a space expedition, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have embraced, as opposed to the traditional management structure, a decentralized management similar to that of Nasa’s, where there were a assortment of Apollo teams all tackling various components of the mission in a variety of locations.
“If you have to go through a protocol where an issue arises and they report it to their manager, that manager talks to a supervisor in another department, it is relayed back, it’s super slow,” explains Chester. “So we empower people to take charge. Eliminating management approval for all decisions is much smoother and faster.”
The Future
The efficacy of this flexible methodology will be evaluated in the intensity of Grand Prix when the season begins and there is a significant degree at stake for Formula One, too. The Cadillac team have taken on as their test driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
