A little more than one year previously at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately awarded the go-ahead as Formula One’s latest participant for 2026. Building the squad from scratch has involved a frenetic pace of work that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo program. As Formula One converges on Las Vegas this race weekend, the team understand the deadline is approaching.
The Tight Timeline to Australia
At the season finale of the season to be staged in the United States, with just over three months to go before they make their debut for the maiden outing in Melbourne at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a never-ending task, they are conscious there will not be adequate time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, became part of the embryonic operation in March 2023 shortly after it was created, when the team were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its core from that point and gets a amused expression when reflecting on the experience.
“You might get a brief moment looking back at what you’ve done and think: ‘Amazing, isn’t this fantastic what the team has created in less than three years,’” he says. “But then the next minute you realize: ‘Well, we still have quite a lot to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Challenge
Nick Chester enjoyed success at Renault in Alonso's title-winning seasons of 2005 and 2006 and was in charge of engineering strategy at the recently formed Mercedes Formula E team, but no previous experience has truly matched the challenge of launching the iconic American Cadillac brand, a factory team supported by the corporate entity, General Motors Corporation, into Formula One.
“Establishing an F1 team from nothing, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he says. “There's nothing comparable. In an well-set team you rarely get the chance to change team culture.”
With each day that elapses thoughts are sharper on the looming critical moment in the Australian GP and expectations are being set realistically.
“You have to assume that any new team entering the sport is probably going to finish last but just making it to the starting line will be an feat in itself,” Graeme Lowdon stated recently and while Nick Chester echoed this 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. “So we arrive and we perform competently. We want to show that we’re a proper team doing the proper actions on the track. Once we have demonstrated that we’re really credible, then we aim to demonstrate improvement subsequently.”
Pilot Selection and Recruitment Drive
In August they contracted Checo Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their pilots for the 2026 season, a tandem distinguished for their vast knowledge in operating at the front in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull and the Mercedes team, and Bottas reflected the mood of determined optimism.
“Certainly, we’re realistic,” he commented. “There’s going to be a mountain of work to do, and it will likely be most likely a difficult start, because it is F1. But our goal isn't to stay at the back. I believe with this setup, with this team, this staff, it's entirely possible we can't manage to advance swiftly up to the pace and enjoy some success.”
To that end hiring has been in top gear, with employees now reaching more than 400 and intended to reach the goal of 600 swiftly. Alongside their existing facility at the UK base, the team are in the phase of building an HQ at the Fishers location in Indy and there is the GM works in North Carolina, where they are building the center to manufacture the 2029 engine, planned for the 2029 season – until then they will operate with Ferrari engines – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne, Germany. It is a complex structure, different from the trend in Formula One for more centralization, and has inspired the fresh organizational mindset to which the CTO referred.
Apollo Model
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo program,” said the team principal shortly before the British GP in the summer. “We are pragmatic, we recognize how difficult it is. The schedules, are incredibly tight. Well, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have embraced, as opposed to the traditional management structure, a flat management structure akin to that of the space agency's, where there were a assortment of specialist groups all working on distinct elements of the mission in a different facilities.
“If you have to go through a protocol where someone has a problem and they escalate it to their manager, that supervisor talks to a leader at a different location, it is relayed back, it becomes inefficient,” explains Nick Chester. “We give authority to staff to take charge. Avoiding managerial sign-off for everything is much smoother and more rapid.”
What Lies Ahead
The effectiveness of this flexible methodology will be proven in the pressure of racing when the season begins and there is a considerable amount at stake for F1, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their test driver the emerging American Colton Herta
