A little more than a full year previously at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally given the green light as the world of Formula One's most recent entry for the 2026 season. Constructing the organization from the ground up has involved a hectic pace of work that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo moon landing. As the sport arrives on Vegas this race weekend, the team know the clock is ticking.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the season finale of the campaign to be held in the United States, with just over three months to go before they take to the track for the inaugural time in Australia at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a never-ending task, they are aware there will not be enough hours in the day.
The technical director, Nick Chester, became part of the nascent operation in the spring of 2023 soon after it was created, when the squad were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its center from that point and gets a amused expression when considering the ride.
“There might be a brief moment thinking back at what you’ve done and go: ‘Wow, isn’t this fantastic what we have built in less than three years,’” Chester states. “Then the very next instant you realize: ‘Yes, we still have a great deal to do.’”
A Unique Opportunity
The CTO had success at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s title-winning campaigns of 2005/2006 and was in charge of technical direction at the new Mercedes electric racing team, but no other project has truly matched the mission of launching the quintessentially American Cadillac name, a factory team sponsored by the owner, General Motors Corporation, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Creating an Formula One team from the ground up, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” Chester remarks. “It's unparalleled. In an existing team you rarely get the possibility to change cultural approach.”
With every day that elapses focus are increasingly concentrated on the looming decisive point in Australia and expectations are being handled.
“It's reasonable to expect that any new team coming in is probably going to finish last but merely participating will be an feat in itself,” Graeme Lowdon commented recently and while the CTO agreed with this sentiment he felt the organization had a point to prove as well.
“The first thing we intend to prove is that we deserve to be there,” he emphasizes. “So we show up and we operate well. We aim to demonstrate that we are a serious contender performing the correct procedures on the race track. When we prove that we’re really credible, then we want to show improvement from there on.”
Pilot Selection and Team Building Effort
In August they contracted Sergio Pérez and Valtteri as their racers for 2026, a pair notable for their invaluable experience in operating at the leading positions in two championship-winning squads, the Red Bull team and Mercedes-AMG, and Valtteri Bottas reflected the sentiment of combative optimism.
“Naturally, we’re realistic,” he said. “There’s going to be a massive task to do, and we expect most likely a difficult start, because it is F1. But we’re not there to finish last. I am confident given this organization, with this team, these personnel, there is every reason that we won't be able to progress rapidly up to the pace and enjoy some success.”
To that end recruitment has been in overdrive, with staff now up to more than 400 and planned to reach the objective of 600 members quickly. In addition to their current base at the UK base, the squad are in the phase of completing an HQ at Fishers in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are developing the center to manufacture the new engine, scheduled for 2029 – for now they will use Ferrari engines – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Germany. It is a intricate organisation, at odds with the movement in the sport for increased consolidation, and has prompted the innovative team culture to which Nick Chester referred.
Apollo Model
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo program,” stated the team principal shortly before the British GP in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we recognize how challenging it is. The deadlines, are extremely compressed. Well, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have adopted, rather than the usual hierarchical system, a non-hierarchical approach similar to that of the space agency's, where there were a range of Apollo teams all working on various components of the program in a variety of locations.
“If you have to go through a procedure where a challenge emerges and they escalate it to their manager, that leader talks to a supervisor in another department, it goes back down the chain, it’s super slow,” says the CTO. “So we empower people to really get on with it. Eliminating managerial sign-off for everything is much smoother and more rapid.”
Upcoming Challenges
The efficacy of this flexible approach will be evaluated in the heat of competition in 2026 and there is a considerable amount riding on this for Formula One, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their development driver the young American Colton Herta
