Approximately a full year previously at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were at last awarded the go-ahead as the world of Formula One's newest entrant for 2026. Constructing the team from nothing has entailed a hectic pace of work that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo program. As Formula One converges on Las Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac know the clock is ticking.
The Tight Timeline to Australia
At the season finale of the championship to be staged in the America, with just over 100 days to go before they make their debut for the maiden outing in Australia at the first race of 2026, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a monumental endeavor, they are aware there will never be sufficient time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, came aboard the nascent project in the spring of 2023 not long after it was formed, when the organization were without even an approved entry. He has been at its heart from that point and enjoys a knowing grin when considering the experience.
“There might be a brief moment reflecting at what the team has achieved and think: ‘Incredible, how impressive what the team has created in a short three-year period,’” Chester states. “Then the very next instant you realize: ‘Yes, there is still quite a lot to do.’”
An Unprecedented Opportunity
Nick Chester enjoyed success at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s championship-winning campaigns of 2005/2006 and was in control of technical direction at the recently formed Mercedes electric racing team, but no previous experience has truly matched the mission of launching the all-American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry backed by the parent company, General Motors, into Formula One.
“Creating an grand prix team from nothing, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” Chester remarks. “There's nothing comparable. In an existing team you don’t get the possibility to change cultural approach.”
With each passing day that passes minds are more focused on the approaching moment of truth in Australia and targets are being managed.
“It's reasonable to expect that any incoming team joining the grid is probably going to finish last but simply getting on to the grid will be an accomplishment in itself,” Lowdon noted earlier this year and while the CTO agreed with this sentiment he felt the organization had a point to prove as well.
“The first thing we want to show is that we belong on the grid,” he says. “In order that we arrive and we operate well. We seek to prove that we’re a proper team performing the right things on the track. After we prove that we are a legitimate team, then we aim to demonstrate forward movement subsequently.”
Racing Talent and Team Building Push
In late summer they contracted Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their drivers for the 2026 season, a duo distinguished for their vast knowledge in competing at the sharp end in two championship-winning squads, the Red Bull team and Mercedes, and Valtteri Bottas echoed the attitude of fighting spirit.
“Of course, we have a realistic outlook,” Bottas stated. “We face a huge amount of work to do, and it will likely be probably a difficult start, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we’re not there to remain at the rear. I am confident with this setup, with these individuals, these personnel, there is every reason that we shouldn’t be able to progress rapidly to the front and taste victory.”
To that end hiring has been in full swing, with employees now up to over 400 and planned to reach the target of six hundred swiftly. Alongside their present headquarters at Silverstone, the organization are in the process of finishing an main base at the Fishers location in Indy and there is the GM works in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are developing the plant to produce the 2029 engine, scheduled for 2029 – until then they will operate with Ferrari power units – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne, Germany. It is a complex organisation, contrary to the movement in the sport for more centralization, and has prompted the fresh organizational mindset to which the CTO referred.
Apollo Model
“We've drawn heavily from the NASA moon mission,” stated Lowdon just before the British GP in July. “We are pragmatic, we understand how challenging it is. The deadlines, are incredibly tight. Well, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have adopted, rather than the traditional management structure, a decentralized management similar to that of NASA's, where there were a variety of specialist groups all working on various components of the mission in a variety of locations.
“In a system where you follow a process where a challenge emerges and they raise it up to their manager, that leader communicates with a leader somewhere else, it travels back down, the process is very slow,” says Nick Chester. “We give authority to team members to take charge. Moving away from hierarchical consent for everything is so much cleaner and quicker.”
What Lies Ahead
The effectiveness of this agile approach will be proven in the heat of competition in 2026 and there is a considerable amount at stake for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their reserve driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta
