A little more than a full year ago at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally given the green light as Formula One’s newest entry for the 2026 season. Building the organization from the ground up has involved a frenetic operating tempo that the team principal, 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 Australia
At the final race of the campaign to be staged in the United States, with around 100 days to go before they hit the circuit for the first time in Australia 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 never be sufficient time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, became part of the newly formed project in early 2023 not long after it was established, when the organization were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its heart since then and gets a amused expression when thinking about the experience.
“You can have a short period looking back at what you have accomplished and say: ‘Wow, how impressive what we’ve done in less than three years,’” Chester states. “And then the very next instant you consider: ‘Yes, there is still a great deal to do.’”
An Unprecedented Challenge
Nick Chester achieved victories at the Renault team in the driver Fernando Alonso's victorious seasons of 2005/2006 and was in command of engineering strategy at the new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no other project has truly matched the challenge of bringing the iconic American Cadillac marque, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the parent company, General Motors Corporation, into F1.
“Building an F1 team from the ground up, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he says. “There's nothing comparable. In an well-set team you rarely get the possibility to alter organizational mindset.”
With each day that elapses focus are sharper on the looming critical moment in the Australian GP and goals are being set realistically.
“One must presume that any new team coming in is going to be last but just making it to the starting line will be an feat in itself,” Lowdon commented recently and while the CTO echoed this he believed the team had a statement to make as well.
“The initial objective we want to show is that we deserve to be there,” he says. “So that we turn up and we perform competently. We want to show that we’re a proper team doing the proper actions on the race track. Once we have demonstrated that we’re really credible, then we will focus on forward movement subsequently.”
Pilot Selection and Team Building Push
In August they contracted Checo Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their drivers for the 2026 season, a duo remarkable for their vast knowledge in operating at the leading positions in two top-tier teams, the Red Bull team and Mercedes-AMG, and Bottas reflected the sentiment of fighting spirit.
“Certainly, we are pragmatic,” he said. “We have a mountain of work to do, and it’s going to be most likely a difficult start, because it is F1. But we’re not there to stay at the back. I believe with this setup, with this group, these personnel, there is every reason that we won't be able to advance swiftly to the front and enjoy some success.”
To realize that ambition hiring has been in full swing, with staff now reaching in excess of 400 and planned to reach the goal of 600 members swiftly. Complementing their existing facility at the UK base, the squad are in the midst of completing an main base at the Fishers location in the Indianapolis area and there is the General Motors facility in North Carolina, where they are developing the center to manufacture the new engine, planned for the 2029 season – for now they will use Ferrari engines – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a intricate organisation, different from the direction in Formula One for more centralization, and has prompted the fresh organizational mindset to which Chester referred to.
Space Mission Model
“It's closely based on the Apollo project,” said Graeme Lowdon ahead of the British GP in mid-season. “We are pragmatic, we recognize how difficult it is. The schedules, are incredibly tight. Well, it's not a space expedition, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have adopted, rather than the usual hierarchical system, a non-hierarchical approach akin to that of NASA's, where there were a range of project teams all tackling different aspects of the program across a different facilities.
“In a system where you follow a protocol where someone has a problem and they raise it up to their team leader, that leader consults a supervisor somewhere else, it goes back down the chain, it’s super slow,” explains Chester. “So we empower team members to take charge. Eliminating managerial sign-off for everything is far more efficient and quicker.”
What Lies Ahead
The effectiveness of this agile approach will be tested in the intensity of Grand Prix next season and there is no little amount on the line for F1, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their test driver the young American Colton Herta
