Approximately a full year previously at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were ultimately awarded the go-ahead as Formula One’s most recent participant for 2026. Building the team from the ground up has required a hectic pace of work that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo program. As F1 descends on Las Vegas this weekend, Cadillac are aware the clock is ticking.
The Tight Timeline to Melbourne
At the last event of the championship to be held in the US, with approximately 100 days to go before they take to the track for the inaugural time in Australia at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a sisyphean task, they are cognizant there will never be enough hours in the day.
The CTO, Nick Chester, became part of the nascent team in the spring of 2023 shortly after it was established, when the team were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its heart from that point and enjoys a knowing grin when reflecting on the ride.
“You can have a brief moment reflecting at what you have accomplished and think: ‘Wow, isn’t this fantastic what we’ve done in less than three years,’” he notes. “Then the following moment you realize: ‘Yes, we still have quite a lot to do.’”
An Unprecedented Task
The CTO enjoyed success at the Renault team in the driver Fernando Alonso's victorious years of 2005/2006 and was in command of technical direction at the then-new Mercedes Formula E team, but no previous experience has quite compared with the task of introducing the all-American Cadillac brand, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the parent company, GM, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Establishing an Formula One team from scratch, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he observes. “There's nothing comparable. In an well-set team you don’t get the chance to change cultural approach.”
With each passing day that elapses thoughts are more focused on the impending critical moment in Melbourne and expectations are being managed.
“One must presume that any incoming team coming in is likely to start at the back but simply getting on to the grid will be an accomplishment in itself,” Lowdon stated recently and while Chester agreed with this sentiment he felt the squad had a reputation to build as well.
“The initial objective we want to show is that we belong on the grid,” Chester explains. “In order that we turn up and we function efficiently. We aim to demonstrate that we’re a proper team performing the correct procedures on the track. After we have demonstrated that we’re really credible, then we want to show forward movement from there on.”
Pilot Selection and Hiring Effort
In late summer they signed Sergio Perez and Bottas as their pilots for 2026, a tandem notable for their vast knowledge in competing at the leading positions in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes-AMG, and Bottas reflected the attitude of combative optimism.
“Of course, we’re realistic,” he said. “We face a massive task to do, and it’s going to be most likely a challenging beginning, because this is Formula One. But we aren't joining to finish last. In my view with this structure, with these individuals, these personnel, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to get relatively quickly to a competitive level and achieve good results.”
To achieve that goal recruitment has been in top gear, with personnel now at over 400 and scheduled to reach the target of 600 members quickly. Complementing their present headquarters at the UK base, the team are in the phase of completing an headquarters at Fishers, Indiana in the Indianapolis area and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, where they are building the facility to produce the new engine, scheduled for the 2029 season – in the meantime they will operate with Ferrari engines – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a intricate organization, at odds with the trend in the sport for greater centralisation, and has inspired the innovative team culture to which Nick Chester referred to.
Apollo Model
“It's closely based on the Apollo program,” remarked Lowdon shortly before the British GP in mid-season. “We’re realistic, we recognize how difficult it is. The schedules, are extremely compressed. Well, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it can seem that way.”
So they have implemented, as opposed to the conventional chain of command, a decentralized management comparable to that of NASA's, where there were a assortment of specialist groups all focusing on distinct elements of the mission across a variety of locations.
“In a system where you follow a procedure where an issue arises and they raise it up to their team leader, that supervisor consults a supervisor somewhere else, it goes back down the chain, the process is very slow,” says Chester. “So we empower staff to take charge. Avoiding managerial sign-off for all decisions is far more efficient and quicker.”
Upcoming Challenges
The success of this nimble methodology will be proven in the heat of competition when the season begins and there is no little amount riding on this for F1, too. The Cadillac team have taken on as their test driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta
