A little more than a full year in the past at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last granted the go-ahead as the world of Formula One's most recent entry for 2026. Building the team from the ground up has entailed a intense work rate that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo program. As Formula One converges on Vegas this weekend, the team know the clock is ticking.
The Countdown to Australia
At the season finale of the campaign to be staged in the America, with around a hundred days to go before they hit the circuit for the inaugural time in Australia at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a never-ending endeavor, they are cognizant there will never be enough hours in the day.
The technical director, Nick Chester, came aboard the nascent team in the spring of 2023 not long after it was established, when the organization were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its heart ever since and enjoys a knowing grin when thinking about the ride.
“You might get a short period looking back at what the team has achieved and say: ‘Incredible, isn’t this fantastic what we have built in a short three-year period,’” Chester states. “And then the following moment you realize: ‘Yeah, there is still a great deal to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Opportunity
The CTO enjoyed success at the Renault team in Alonso's championship-winning years of the mid-2000s and was in control of technical development at the recently formed Mercedes electric racing team, but nothing has truly matched the task of launching the iconic American Cadillac brand, a manufacturer-backed entry backed by the owner, General Motors Corporation, into Formula One.
“Creating an grand prix team from scratch, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he observes. “It's unparalleled. In an established team you rarely get the possibility to alter team culture.”
With every day that goes by focus are sharper on the approaching moment of truth in the Australian GP and expectations are being managed.
“It's reasonable to expect that any incoming team coming in is probably going to finish last but merely participating will be an achievement in itself,” the team principal noted this year and while Nick Chester shared this view he thought the organization had a point to prove as well.
“Our primary goal we aim to demonstrate is that we belong on the grid,” he emphasizes. “So we show up and we perform competently. We aim to demonstrate that we’re a proper team doing the proper actions on the race track. After we prove that we are a legitimate team, then we will focus on forward movement subsequently.”
Pilot Selection and Recruitment Effort
In August they recruited Sergio Perez and Valtteri as their racers for 2026, a duo notable for their priceless expertise in competing at the leading positions in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull and the Mercedes team, and Valtteri Bottas echoed the sentiment of determined optimism.
“Certainly, we are pragmatic,” he commented. “There’s going to be a massive task to do, and it’s going to be almost certainly a tough opening, because this is Formula One. But we aren't joining to stay at the back. I am confident with this structure, with these individuals, these people, there’s no reason why we won't be able to get relatively quickly to a competitive level and achieve good results.”
To that end staff acquisition has been in full swing, with personnel now up to in excess of 400 and scheduled to attain the goal of 600 rapidly. Complementing their current base at the UK base, the organization are in the phase of completing an HQ at the Fishers location in the Indianapolis area and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are building the plant to produce the 2029 engine, scheduled for 2029 – for now they will use Ferrari power units – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a complex structure, at odds with the movement in Formula One for greater centralisation, and has inspired the fresh organizational mindset to which the CTO referred.
Apollo Inspiration
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo project,” remarked Lowdon just before the British GP in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we understand how difficult it is. The schedules, they’re super, super, super short. Well, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it can seem that way.”
So they have embraced, rather than the conventional chain of command, a non-hierarchical approach akin to that of the space agency's, where there were a variety of specialist groups all working on various components of the program in a variety of locations.
“When you must follow a process where a challenge emerges and they report it to their manager, that manager talks to a manager at a different location, it travels back down, it’s super slow,” says Chester. “So we empower people to really get on with it. Moving away from hierarchical consent for all decisions is far more efficient and faster.”
What Lies Ahead
The effectiveness of this agile strategy will be proven in the heat of competition next season and there is a considerable amount riding on this for F1, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their reserve driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
