Just over a full year ago at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were ultimately given the go-ahead as F1's latest entrant for 2026. Building the squad from the ground up has involved a hectic operating tempo that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo program. As Formula One converges on the Vegas strip this race weekend, Cadillac know the clock is ticking.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the final race of the championship to be held in the United States, with approximately 100 days to go before they take to the track for the maiden outing in Melbourne at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a never-ending challenge, they are conscious there will not be adequate time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, joined the embryonic team in March 2023 shortly after it was formed, when the squad were without even an official entry. He has been at its core ever since and enjoys a amused expression when considering the experience.
“There might be five minutes reflecting at what the team has achieved and say: ‘Amazing, what an achievement what we have built in less than three years,’” he says. “Then the very next instant you think: ‘Yes, we still have quite a lot to do.’”
A Unique Challenge
The CTO had success at the Renault team in Alonso's title-winning seasons of the mid-2000s and was in command of technical development at the then-new Mercedes electric racing team, but no other project has quite compared with the challenge of introducing the quintessentially American Cadillac name, a works entry supported by the corporate entity, General Motors, into Formula One.
“Creating an Formula One team from nothing, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” Chester remarks. “There's nothing comparable. In an well-set team you don’t get the opportunity to change team culture.”
With every day that passes minds are more focused on the approaching critical moment in Australia and targets are being handled.
“It's reasonable to expect that any incoming team entering the sport is likely to start at the back but merely participating will be an accomplishment in itself,” the team principal commented recently and while Nick Chester agreed with this sentiment he believed the squad had a reputation to build as well.
“The first thing we aim to demonstrate is that we belong on the grid,” he says. “In order that we arrive and we function efficiently. We aim to demonstrate that we’re a proper team executing the proper actions on the track. When we have demonstrated that we are a legitimate team, then we will focus on improvement from there on.”
Driver Lineup and Recruitment Effort
In August they recruited Checo Pérez and Bottas as their pilots for the 2026 season, a duo notable for their vast knowledge in operating at the sharp end in two top-tier teams, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes, and Valtteri Bottas echoed the sentiment of determined optimism.
“Certainly, we’re realistic,” Bottas stated. “We have a massive task to do, and we expect most likely a difficult start, because it is F1. But our goal isn't to stay at the back. In my view with this structure, with this group, this staff, it's entirely possible we won't be able to get relatively quickly to the front and taste victory.”
To that end hiring has been in full swing, with employees now at more than 400 and planned to reach the objective of 600 swiftly. In addition to their present headquarters at the Silverstone circuit, the organization are in the midst of completing an headquarters at the Fishers location in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, where they are building the plant to produce the 2029 engine, set for the 2029 season – until then they will operate with Ferrari engines – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Germany. It is a sophisticated structure, contrary to the trend in Formula One for increased consolidation, and has inspired the new cultural approach to which Chester referred.
Apollo Blueprint
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo project,” said Lowdon just before the Silverstone race in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we recognize how tough it is. The timelines, are extremely compressed. Well, it's not a space expedition, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have implemented, instead of the usual hierarchical system, a non-hierarchical approach akin to that of the space agency's, where there were a range of Apollo teams all working on distinct elements of the mission in a different facilities.
“In a system where you follow a protocol where a challenge emerges and they report it to their manager, that manager consults a manager somewhere else, it goes back down the chain, the process is very slow,” notes Nick Chester. “So we empower staff to take charge. Avoiding managerial sign-off for all decisions is much smoother and faster.”
The Future
The efficacy of this nimble strategy will be tested in the intensity of Grand Prix in 2026 and there is a significant degree riding on this for F1, too. Cadillac have recruited as their development driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
