Approximately twelve months ago at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally given the green light as the world of Formula One's most recent entry for 2026. Establishing the squad from scratch has required a frenetic pace of work that the team boss, 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 Countdown to Australia
At the final race of the season to be staged in the US, with just over three months to go before they take to the track for the first time in Australia at the first race of 2026, the Cadillac F1 project have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a monumental endeavor, they are cognizant there will not be sufficient time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, joined the embryonic operation in the spring of 2023 not long after it was established, when the organization were without even an official entry. He has been at its core ever since and enjoys a amused expression when thinking about the experience.
“There might be five minutes thinking back at what you have accomplished and go: ‘Incredible, isn’t this fantastic what we have built in less than three years,’” he says. “But then the following moment you realize: ‘Well, we still have a great deal to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Challenge
The CTO had success at the Renault team in Alonso's championship-winning seasons of 2005/2006 and was in control of technical direction at the then-new Mercedes electric racing team, but nothing has truly matched the mission of launching the all-American Cadillac brand, a factory team sponsored by the corporate entity, GM, into Formula One.
“Creating an F1 team from the ground up, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he observes. “There's nothing comparable. In an well-set team you don’t get the opportunity to alter organizational mindset.”
With every day that passes minds are increasingly concentrated on the approaching decisive point in Australia and goals are being set realistically.
“It's reasonable to expect that any new team entering the sport is likely to start at the back but merely participating will be an accomplishment in itself,” the team principal stated this year and while the CTO agreed with this sentiment he thought the squad had a reputation to build as well.
“The first thing we want to show is that we belong on the grid,” he emphasizes. “In order that we turn up and we operate well. We seek to prove that we are a serious contender performing the right things on the track. After we have demonstrated that we are a legitimate team, then we want to show improvement after that.”
Pilot Selection and Recruitment Drive
In the summer they contracted Sergio Perez and Bottas as their drivers for the 2026 season, a duo notable for their priceless expertise in competing at the sharp end in two top-tier teams, the Red Bull team and the Mercedes team, and Bottas reflected the sentiment of combative optimism.
“Naturally, we’re realistic,” he commented. “There’s going to be a huge amount of work to do, and we expect most likely a challenging beginning, because it's the top level of motorsport. But our goal isn't to remain at the rear. In my view with this setup, with this team, these personnel, it's entirely possible we shouldn’t be able to advance swiftly to a competitive level and enjoy some success.”
To realize that ambition recruitment has been in overdrive, with staff now up to more than 400 and scheduled to hit the target of six hundred quickly. Alongside their present headquarters at the UK base, the squad are in the process of finishing an headquarters at the Fishers location in Indy and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, where they are constructing the center to manufacture the new engine, planned for 2029 – until then they will run Ferrari engines – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Germany. It is a complex organization, different from the direction in F1 for more centralization, and has led to the innovative team culture to which the CTO referred.
Apollo Model
“It's closely based on the NASA moon mission,” remarked Graeme Lowdon ahead of the Silverstone race in mid-season. “We have a clear-eyed view, we recognize how difficult it is. The deadlines, are extremely compressed. Alright, it's not a space expedition, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have adopted, instead of the traditional management structure, a non-hierarchical approach similar to that of the space agency's, where there were a range of Apollo teams all tackling distinct elements of the program in a different facilities.
“When you must follow a procedure where a challenge emerges and they escalate it to their manager, that leader communicates with a leader in another department, it travels back down, the process is very slow,” says Nick Chester. “So we empower people to handle things directly. Avoiding managerial sign-off for each action is far more efficient and faster.”
Upcoming Challenges
The success of this nimble approach will be evaluated in the heat of competition in 2026 and there is a considerable amount at stake for Formula One, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their test driver the young American Colton Herta
