🔗 Share this article

A little more than one year previously at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last awarded the official approval as the world of Formula One's newest entry for the 2026 season. Building the team from the ground up has involved a hectic work rate that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo moon landing. As F1 converges on the Vegas strip this race weekend, the team know time is getting tight.

The Countdown to Melbourne

At the last event of the campaign to be staged in the United States, with just over three months to go before they take to the track for the first time in Australia at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a monumental task, they are aware there will never be adequate time.

The CTO, Nick Chester, became part of the embryonic operation in the spring of 2023 not long after it was formed, when the team were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its heart since then and enjoys a wry smile when reflecting on the ride.

“You might get a brief moment looking back at what you’ve done and say: ‘Incredible, what an achievement what we’ve done in a short three-year period,’” he notes. “But then the next minute you realize: ‘Yeah, we’ve still got a great deal to do.’”

An Unprecedented Opportunity

Nick Chester had success at the Renault team in Alonso's championship-winning seasons of 2005/2006 and was in charge of technical development at the recently formed Mercedes electric racing team, but no previous experience has truly matched the task of launching the all-American Cadillac brand, a manufacturer-backed entry sponsored by the owner, General Motors, into F1.

“Building an Formula One team from scratch, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he observes. “There's nothing comparable. In an existing team you won't have the possibility to alter cultural approach.”

With each day that passes thoughts are more focused on the approaching moment of truth in Melbourne and targets are being set realistically.

“You have to assume that any incoming team joining the grid is going to be last but merely participating will be an accomplishment in itself,” Graeme Lowdon noted recently and while Chester shared this view he thought the organization had a statement to make as well.

“The initial objective we intend to prove is that we belong on the grid,” Chester explains. “So that we arrive and we perform competently. We want to show that this is a professional operation doing the correct procedures on the track. After we prove that we’re really credible, then we want to show forward movement subsequently.”

Racing Talent and Hiring Push

In the summer they contracted Sergio Pérez and Bottas as their racers for 2026, a tandem distinguished for their invaluable experience in competing at the front in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull and Mercedes-AMG, and the Finnish driver echoed the attitude of determined optimism.

“Of course, we are pragmatic,” Bottas stated. “We face a huge amount of work to do, and it’s going to be most likely a tough opening, because it is F1. But we aren't joining to stay at the back. In my view given this organization, with this team, these personnel, there’s no reason why we can't manage to advance swiftly up to the pace and achieve good results.”

To achieve that goal hiring has been in top gear, with staff now reaching over 400 and scheduled to attain the target of six hundred quickly. Alongside their current base at the Silverstone circuit, the organization are in the midst of completing an main base at the Fishers location in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are developing the center to produce the new engine, set for the 2029 season – until then they will run power from Ferrari – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a sophisticated organization, different from the movement in F1 for greater centralisation, and has prompted the innovative team culture to which the CTO referred.

Apollo Model

“It's closely based on the Apollo project,” said Graeme Lowdon ahead of the British Grand Prix in mid-season. “We have a clear-eyed view, we recognize how tough it is. The schedules, are incredibly tight. Well, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but the pressure is comparable.”

So they have implemented, as opposed to the conventional chain of command, a flat management structure akin to that of Nasa’s, where there were a variety of Apollo teams all working on distinct elements of the program across a variety of locations.

“If you have to go through a process where a challenge emerges and they raise it up to their team leader, that manager consults a supervisor somewhere else, it is relayed back, the process is very slow,” notes the CTO. “Therefore we enable staff to take charge. Moving away from management approval for each action is so much cleaner and more rapid.”

What Lies Ahead

The efficacy of this agile methodology will be proven in the intensity of Grand Prix in 2026 and there is a considerable amount at stake for Formula One, too. Cadillac have recruited as their development driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta