Approximately one year in the past at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally awarded the green light as F1's latest entrant for the 2026 season. Constructing the squad from the ground up has involved a hectic pace of work that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo program. As Formula One arrives on Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac are aware the deadline is approaching.
The Tight Timeline to Melbourne
At the last event of the championship to be held in the America, with approximately 100 days to go before they make their debut for the maiden outing in Australia at the 2026 opener, the Cadillac F1 project have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a never-ending task, they are conscious there will not be sufficient time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, came aboard the nascent operation in the spring of 2023 soon after it was established, when the squad were without even an official entry. He has been at its center since then and gets a wry smile when reflecting on the journey.
“You can have a short period looking back at what you’ve done and go: ‘Incredible, isn’t this fantastic what we have built in a short three-year period,’” Chester states. “And then the following moment you think: ‘Yeah, there is still a significant amount to do.’”
A Unique Task
The CTO enjoyed success at Renault in the driver Fernando Alonso's victorious campaigns of 2005/2006 and was in charge of technical direction at the new Mercedes Formula E team, but no other project has quite compared with the mission of launching the all-American Cadillac marque, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the owner, General Motors, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Creating an grand prix team from nothing, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he says. “There's nothing comparable. In an well-set team you won't have the opportunity to alter cultural approach.”
With each passing day that elapses minds are sharper on the approaching critical moment in Australia and targets are being set realistically.
“It's reasonable to expect that any new team coming in is likely to start at the back but just making it to the starting line will be an accomplishment in itself,” Lowdon stated earlier this year and while Nick Chester agreed with this sentiment he believed the squad had a point to prove as well.
“The initial objective we want to show is that we should be there,” he emphasizes. “So we arrive and we function efficiently. We seek to prove that we are a serious contender performing the right things on the track. When we prove that we’re really credible, then we aim to demonstrate improvement subsequently.”
Pilot Selection and Team Building Push
In August they recruited Checo Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their pilots for 2026, a pair notable for their priceless expertise in operating at the sharp end in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes, and Valtteri Bottas reflected the attitude of combative optimism.
“Naturally, we are pragmatic,” he commented. “We have a mountain of work to do, and it’s going to be probably a difficult start, because this is Formula One. But our goal isn't to remain at the rear. I believe given this organization, with this group, this staff, there is every reason that we won't be able to progress rapidly to the front and taste victory.”
To that end staff acquisition has been in overdrive, with personnel now up to more than 400 and intended to hit the target of 600 members swiftly. Alongside their existing facility at the UK base, the organization are in the process of completing an main base at Fishers, Indiana in Indianapolis and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are constructing the facility to produce the new engine, scheduled for 2029 – for now they will use Ferrari power units – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a complex structure, contrary to the trend in Formula One for increased consolidation, and has prompted the fresh organizational mindset to which the CTO referred to.
Apollo Blueprint
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo program,” said Lowdon just before the Silverstone race in mid-season. “We are pragmatic, we understand how tough it is. The schedules, are incredibly tight. Well, it's not a space expedition, but it can seem that way.”
So they have embraced, as opposed to the usual hierarchical system, a decentralized management similar to that of the space agency's, where there were a variety of specialist groups all focusing on various components of the mission across a variety of locations.
“If you have to go through a process where an issue arises and they raise it up to their manager, that manager talks to a supervisor in another department, it goes back down the chain, it becomes inefficient,” notes the CTO. “Therefore we enable staff to really get on with it. Avoiding hierarchical consent for all decisions is much smoother and quicker.”
The Future
The success of this nimble methodology will be evaluated in the heat of competition in 2026 and there is a significant degree at stake for Formula One, too. Cadillac have recruited as their reserve driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta
