Just over one year ago at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were ultimately given the official approval as F1's most recent entrant for the 2026 season. Constructing the team from the ground up has required a intense work rate that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo program. As F1 converges on Las Vegas this race weekend, the team understand the clock is ticking.
The Tight Timeline to Melbourne
At the last event of the season to be hosted in the America, with approximately a hundred days to go before they make their debut 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 monumental challenge, they are conscious there will not be enough hours in the day.
The CTO, Nick Chester, came aboard the newly formed team in early 2023 shortly after it was formed, when the squad were without even an approved entry. He has been at its heart from that point and has a knowing grin when reflecting on the experience.
“There might be a brief moment looking back at what you’ve done and say: ‘Amazing, what an achievement what the team has created in a short three-year period,’” Chester states. “Then the next minute you consider: ‘Yeah, there is still a significant amount to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Challenge
Nick Chester achieved victories at the Renault team in the driver Fernando Alonso's victorious seasons of 2005 and 2006 and was in control of technical direction at the new Mercedes electric racing team, but nothing has quite compared with the challenge of bringing the iconic American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the parent company, General Motors, into F1.
“Creating an grand prix team from the ground up, 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 chance to change team culture.”
With each day that goes by thoughts are sharper on the impending decisive point in Melbourne and targets are being set realistically.
“It's reasonable to expect that any new team joining the grid is going to be last but merely participating will be an accomplishment in itself,” the team principal noted this year and while Chester agreed with this sentiment he believed the team had a statement to make as well.
“The initial objective we intend to prove is that we belong on the grid,” he emphasizes. “So we turn up and we perform competently. We want to show that we’re a proper team doing the proper actions on the circuit. After we have demonstrated that we are a legitimate team, then we will focus on forward movement from there on.”
Pilot Selection and Recruitment Push
In the summer they recruited Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas as their pilots for 2026, a pair distinguished for their priceless expertise in competing at the sharp end in two of the sport’s biggest teams, the Red Bull team and Mercedes-AMG, and Bottas reflected the sentiment of determined optimism.
“Naturally, we’re realistic,” he commented. “We have a massive task to do, and it will likely be probably a challenging beginning, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we aren't joining to stay at the back. I am confident with this setup, with these individuals, these people, it's entirely possible we shouldn’t be able to advance swiftly up to the pace and taste victory.”
To achieve that goal recruitment has been in overdrive, with staff now up to more than 400 and planned to hit the goal of 600 members swiftly. In addition to their present headquarters at the UK base, the squad are in the process of completing an headquarters at Fishers, Indiana in Indianapolis and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are developing the facility to build the new engine, set for 2029 – until then they will use power from Ferrari – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Germany. It is a intricate organization, at odds with the trend in F1 for increased consolidation, and has prompted the new cultural approach to which Nick Chester alluded.
Space Mission Blueprint
“It's closely based on the Apollo program,” said Lowdon ahead of the Silverstone race in mid-season. “We have a clear-eyed view, we recognize how difficult it is. The deadlines, are incredibly tight. Alright, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have implemented, instead of the usual hierarchical system, a flat management structure akin to that of Nasa’s, where there were a assortment of Apollo teams all focusing on distinct elements of the program across a multiple sites.
“If you have to go through a procedure where a challenge emerges and they raise it up to their team leader, that leader consults a leader somewhere else, it travels back down, it becomes inefficient,” says Chester. “So we empower team members to really get on with it. Avoiding management approval for everything is much smoother and quicker.”
What Lies Ahead
The effectiveness of this agile strategy will be proven in the pressure of racing next season and there is a significant degree riding on this for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their test driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta
