Approximately one year in the past at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were ultimately given the go-ahead as F1's newest participant for 2026. Establishing the team from scratch has entailed a frenetic pace of work that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo program. As F1 converges on Las Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac are aware the deadline is approaching.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the season finale of the championship to be hosted in the United States, with around 100 days to go before they hit the circuit for the first time in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a sisyphean challenge, they are aware there will never be adequate time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, came aboard the embryonic project in the spring of 2023 soon after it was established, when the team were without even an official entry. He has been at its center from that point and has a wry smile when considering the journey.
“You can have five minutes looking back at what you have accomplished and go: ‘Amazing, how impressive what we’ve done in less than three years,’” he says. “And then the following moment you think: ‘Yeah, there is still quite a lot to do.’”
A Unique Challenge
Nick Chester enjoyed success at the Renault team in the driver Fernando Alonso's title-winning years of 2005 and 2006 and was in control of technical direction at the then-new Mercedes Formula E team, but no previous experience has quite compared with the task of launching the all-American Cadillac marque, a manufacturer-backed entry sponsored by the parent company, General Motors, into Formula One.
“Building an F1 team from scratch, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he says. “It's unparalleled. In an established team you don’t get the opportunity to transform team culture.”
With every day that passes focus are sharper on the impending decisive point in the Australian GP and targets are being managed.
“One must presume that any incoming team entering the sport is going to be last but merely participating will be an achievement in itself,” the team principal stated this year and while Nick Chester echoed this he believed the organization had a point to prove as well.
“Our primary goal we intend to prove is that we deserve to be there,” Chester explains. “So we arrive and we operate well. We aim to demonstrate that we’re a proper team performing the proper actions on the track. When we prove that our credentials are solid, then we want to show improvement from there on.”
Driver Lineup and Recruitment Drive
In the summer they contracted Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a tandem distinguished for their vast knowledge in performing at the leading positions in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull and the Mercedes team, and Bottas expressed the attitude of determined optimism.
“Certainly, we are pragmatic,” he commented. “We have a mountain of work to do, and we expect most likely a challenging beginning, because it is F1. But we’re not there to stay at the back. In my view with this structure, with these individuals, these personnel, there’s no reason why we can't manage to get relatively quickly to the front and enjoy some success.”
To that end staff acquisition has been in full swing, with employees now at in excess of 400 and intended to attain the goal of 600 members quickly. Complementing their present headquarters at Silverstone, the squad are in the phase of building an main base at Fishers in Indianapolis and there is the GM works in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are constructing the plant to manufacture the new engine, set for the 2029 season – in the meantime they will operate with power from Ferrari – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Germany. It is a sophisticated organization, different from the movement in the sport for greater centralisation, and has led to the new cultural approach to which the CTO referred.
Space Mission Blueprint
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo project,” remarked Graeme Lowdon ahead of the British GP in mid-season. “We have a clear-eyed view, we recognize how challenging it is. The deadlines, they’re super, super, super short. Well, it's not a space expedition, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have embraced, as opposed to the conventional chain of command, a non-hierarchical approach comparable to that of Nasa’s, where there were a variety of Apollo teams all focusing on distinct elements of the project in a variety of locations.
“In a system where you follow a process where an issue arises and they raise it up to their supervisor, that supervisor communicates with a supervisor somewhere else, it goes back down the chain, it becomes inefficient,” notes the CTO. “We give authority to team members to take charge. Eliminating management approval for everything is so much cleaner and quicker.”
What Lies Ahead
The efficacy of this agile methodology will be evaluated in the heat of competition when the season begins and there is a considerable amount on the line for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their reserve driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta
