Approximately a full year in the past at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately granted the official approval as F1's newest entry for 2026. Establishing the organization from scratch has required a hectic pace of work that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo program. As Formula One descends on Vegas this weekend, Cadillac understand time is getting tight.
The Race Against Time to Australia
At the last event of the campaign to be held in the America, with just over three months to go before they take to the track for the first time in Melbourne at the first race of 2026, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a sisyphean endeavor, they are cognizant there will never be adequate time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, came aboard the embryonic project in March 2023 soon after it was formed, when the team were without even an official entry. He has been at its heart since then and has a wry smile when considering the ride.
“You can have a short period thinking back at what you’ve done and go: ‘Incredible, how impressive what we’ve done in under three years,’” Chester states. “And then the following moment you think: ‘Yes, we still have quite a lot to do.’”
A Unique Task
Nick Chester achieved victories at Renault in Alonso's championship-winning campaigns of 2005 and 2006 and was in control of technical development at the new Mercedes electric racing team, but no other project has quite compared with the mission of launching the iconic American Cadillac marque, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the parent company, GM, into F1.
“Establishing an grand prix team from scratch, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he observes. “It is like nothing else. In an established team you don’t get the opportunity to change cultural approach.”
With each passing day that elapses focus are more focused on the approaching decisive point in Melbourne and goals are being handled.
“One must presume that a brand-new squad joining the grid is probably going to finish last but merely participating will be an accomplishment in itself,” Graeme Lowdon noted this year and while Chester shared this view he believed the squad had a reputation to build as well.
“The first thing we intend to prove is that we belong on the grid,” Chester explains. “So that we turn up and we function efficiently. We seek to prove that we are a serious contender executing the right things on the circuit. Once we’ve shown that our credentials are solid, then we aim to demonstrate improvement after that.”
Racing Talent and Team Building Push
In the summer they recruited Checo Pérez and Valtteri as their drivers for 2026, a tandem distinguished for their priceless expertise in competing at the front in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull and Mercedes-AMG, and the Finnish driver expressed the mood of determined optimism.
“Of course, we are pragmatic,” he said. “We have a massive task to do, and it’s going to be probably a challenging beginning, because this is Formula One. But we aren't joining to finish last. I believe with this setup, with these individuals, these personnel, there’s no reason why we won't be able to advance swiftly up to the pace and enjoy some success.”
To achieve that goal hiring has been in top gear, with employees now at in excess of 400 and planned to attain the objective of six hundred rapidly. Complementing their current base at the UK base, the squad are in the process of completing an HQ at Fishers, Indiana in the Indianapolis area and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, where they are developing the facility to produce the new engine, set for the 2029 season – until then they will operate with Ferrari power units – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a complex structure, contrary to the trend in the sport for greater centralisation, and has prompted the fresh organizational mindset to which Chester referred to.
Apollo Model
“It's closely based on the NASA moon mission,” remarked Lowdon ahead of the Silverstone race in mid-season. “We’re realistic, we recognize how difficult it is. The schedules, they’re super, super, super short. Alright, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it can seem that way.”
So they have implemented, as opposed to the conventional chain of command, a non-hierarchical approach similar to that of Nasa’s, where there were a variety of specialist groups all working on various components of the project across a multiple sites.
“If you have to go through a procedure where someone has a problem and they raise it up to their team leader, that manager talks to a supervisor in another department, it is relayed back, it becomes inefficient,” says the CTO. “Therefore we enable people to take charge. Moving away from hierarchical consent for each action is far more efficient and quicker.”
What Lies Ahead
The success of this agile methodology will be evaluated in the heat of competition next season and there is a considerable amount on the line for Formula One, too. Cadillac have signed as their test driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta
