Approximately one year in the past at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally granted the go-ahead as F1's latest entry for the 2026 season. Establishing the organization from scratch has entailed a intense pace of work that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo program. As F1 arrives on Vegas this weekend, the team are aware time is getting tight.
The Countdown to Australia
At the final race of the championship to be held in the America, with around a hundred days to go before they hit the circuit for the inaugural time in Australia at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a never-ending task, they are conscious there will never be adequate time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, joined the nascent project in March 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 has a wry smile when reflecting on the journey.
“There might be five minutes looking back at what the team has achieved and think: ‘Amazing, what an achievement what we’ve done in under three years,’” he notes. “Then the next minute you think: ‘Yes, there is still a great deal to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Task
Nick Chester had success at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s victorious years of 2005/2006 and was in charge of technical direction at the recently formed Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no other project has truly matched the challenge of bringing the iconic American Cadillac brand, a factory team sponsored by the parent company, General Motors Corporation, into Formula One.
“Establishing an grand prix team from scratch, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” Chester remarks. “It is like nothing else. In an existing team you won't have the chance to transform organizational mindset.”
With every day that passes focus are increasingly concentrated on the impending critical moment in the Australian GP and goals are being set realistically.
“One must presume that any new team coming in is likely to start at the back but just making it to the starting line will be an achievement in itself,” Lowdon stated this year and while Chester agreed with this sentiment he believed the team had a reputation to build as well.
“The initial objective we want to show is that we deserve to be there,” Chester explains. “So that we arrive and we perform competently. We aim to demonstrate that this is a professional operation executing the correct procedures on the circuit. After we prove that our credentials are solid, then we aim to demonstrate forward movement from there on.”
Racing Talent and Hiring Effort
In the summer they contracted Checo Pérez and Valtteri as their pilots for the 2026 season, a pair distinguished for their priceless expertise in competing at the sharp end in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes, and the Finnish driver reflected the mood of fighting spirit.
“Certainly, we are pragmatic,” Bottas stated. “There’s going to be a mountain of work to do, and it’s going to be probably a challenging beginning, because this is Formula One. But we aren't joining to finish last. I believe with this structure, with this group, these personnel, there is every reason that we shouldn’t be able to progress rapidly to the front and enjoy some success.”
To achieve that goal recruitment has been in full swing, with personnel now up to in excess of 400 and intended to reach the target of 600 swiftly. Complementing their current base at the UK base, the team are in the process of completing an headquarters at Fishers in Indianapolis and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, where they are constructing the facility to build the power unit, planned for the 2029 season – in the meantime they will use power from Ferrari – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne. It is a sophisticated organization, different from the trend in F1 for greater centralisation, and has led to the innovative team culture to which Chester referred.
NASA Blueprint
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo project,” stated Graeme Lowdon shortly before the British GP in mid-season. “We are pragmatic, we recognize how difficult it is. The timelines, are incredibly tight. Alright, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it can seem that way.”
So they have adopted, as opposed to the traditional management structure, a decentralized management comparable to that of the space agency's, where there were a assortment of Apollo teams all focusing on various components of the program across a different facilities.
“If you have to go through a process where an issue arises and they report it to their supervisor, that leader talks to a supervisor at a different location, it travels back down, the process is very slow,” says Chester. “We give authority to staff to handle things directly. Eliminating management approval for all decisions is much smoother and more rapid.”
Upcoming Challenges
The effectiveness of this nimble approach will be evaluated in the pressure of racing in 2026 and there is a significant degree on the line for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their test driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
