Just over one year ago at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were ultimately awarded the official approval as F1's latest entry for 2026. Building the squad from nothing has required a intense pace of work that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo program. As Formula One arrives on Las Vegas this weekend, Cadillac know the clock is ticking.
The Race Against Time to Australia
At the final race of the championship to be held in the America, with around three months to go before they take to the track for the first time in Melbourne at the 2026 opener, the Cadillac F1 project have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a sisyphean task, they are cognizant there will not be adequate time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, came aboard the newly formed operation in the spring of 2023 not long after it was created, when the organization were without even an official entry. He has been at its core from that point and gets a knowing grin when considering the journey.
“There might be a brief moment reflecting at what the team has achieved and go: ‘Amazing, what an achievement what we have built in a short three-year period,’” he notes. “But then the following moment you realize: ‘Yeah, we still have a significant amount to do.’”
A Unique Task
Nick Chester achieved victories at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s title-winning campaigns of 2005 and 2006 and was in charge of technical development at the then-new Mercedes Formula E team, but no other project has truly matched the mission of bringing the quintessentially American Cadillac marque, a manufacturer-backed entry backed by the owner, GM, into Formula One.
“Building an F1 team from scratch, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he says. “It's unparalleled. In an existing team you rarely get the chance to transform organizational mindset.”
With each passing day that passes thoughts are sharper on the impending moment of truth in Melbourne and targets are being set realistically.
“One must presume that a brand-new squad entering the sport is probably going to finish last but simply getting on to the grid will be an feat in itself,” Lowdon commented recently and while Nick Chester shared this view he thought the squad had a statement to make as well.
“The first thing we intend to prove is that we belong on the grid,” he emphasizes. “In order that we show up and we function efficiently. We aim to demonstrate that we’re a proper team performing the right things on the race track. Once we’ve shown that we are a legitimate team, then we want to show forward movement from there on.”
Driver Lineup and Hiring Push
In August they recruited Sergio Pérez and Valtteri as their pilots for 2026, a duo notable for their priceless expertise in competing at the sharp end in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull Racing and the Mercedes team, and the Finnish driver reflected the sentiment of combative optimism.
“Certainly, we’re realistic,” Bottas stated. “There’s going to be a mountain of work to do, and we expect almost certainly a challenging beginning, because this is Formula One. But our goal isn't to remain at the rear. I believe given this organization, with this team, these people, it's entirely possible we shouldn’t be able to advance swiftly to a competitive level and taste victory.”
To realize that ambition recruitment has been in full swing, with personnel now reaching more than 400 and planned to reach the goal of 600 members rapidly. Alongside their present headquarters at the UK base, the squad are in the process of finishing an main base at the Fishers location in Indianapolis and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are constructing the facility to produce the new engine, scheduled for 2029 – in the meantime they will use Ferrari power units – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a complex structure, contrary to the trend in the sport for greater centralisation, and has prompted the innovative team culture to which the CTO alluded.
Apollo Inspiration
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo program,” stated Lowdon shortly before the British Grand Prix in the summer. “We’re realistic, we understand how difficult it is. The schedules, are incredibly tight. OK, it's not a space expedition, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have embraced, rather than the usual hierarchical system, a decentralized management similar to that of Nasa’s, where there were a assortment of project teams all tackling various components of the project in a different facilities.
“If you have to go through a procedure where a challenge emerges and they escalate it to their manager, that manager communicates with a supervisor somewhere else, it goes back down the chain, it becomes inefficient,” notes Chester. “So we empower people to really get on with it. Moving away from managerial sign-off for all decisions is far more efficient and quicker.”
Upcoming Challenges
The efficacy of this agile approach will be tested in the pressure of racing next season and there is a considerable amount riding on this for Formula One, too. Cadillac have recruited as their development driver the young Californian Colton Herta
