A little more than a full year in the past at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last granted the go-ahead as Formula One’s most recent entrant for the 2026 season. Establishing the squad from scratch has involved a hectic operating tempo that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo program. As F1 arrives on the Vegas strip this race weekend, the team understand the clock is ticking.
The Tight Timeline to Melbourne
At the last event of the season to be staged in the America, with just over a hundred days to go before they hit the circuit for the inaugural time in Australia at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a never-ending endeavor, they are cognizant there will never be enough hours in the day.
The CTO, Nick Chester, joined the newly formed operation in March 2023 shortly after it was created, when the organization were without even an approved entry. He has been at its center ever since and enjoys a amused expression when reflecting on the experience.
“There might be a brief moment reflecting at what you’ve done and think: ‘Wow, how impressive what we have built in a short three-year period,’” Chester states. “And then the next minute you think: ‘Yeah, there is still quite a lot to do.’”
An Unprecedented Challenge
The CTO achieved victories at the Renault team in the driver Fernando Alonso's title-winning seasons of 2005/2006 and was in command of technical direction at the then-new Mercedes Formula E team, but nothing has quite compared with the mission of introducing the iconic American Cadillac marque, a works entry sponsored by the parent company, GM, into F1.
“Establishing an F1 team from scratch, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he observes. “It is like nothing else. In an established team you don’t get the opportunity to transform team culture.”
With each passing day that goes by focus are more focused on the approaching moment of truth in Melbourne and expectations are being handled.
“You have to assume that any new team coming in is probably going to finish last but simply getting on to the grid will be an accomplishment in itself,” the team principal noted earlier this year and while the CTO shared this view he believed the organization had a statement to make as well.
“The initial objective we want to show is that we deserve to be there,” he emphasizes. “In order that we turn up and we perform competently. We want to show that this is a professional operation performing the right things on the track. After we prove that we’re really credible, then we aim to demonstrate forward movement subsequently.”
Driver Lineup and Recruitment Drive
In August they recruited Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas as their drivers for the 2026 season, a duo remarkable for their priceless expertise in competing at the front in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull and Mercedes-AMG, and Valtteri Bottas echoed the mood of fighting spirit.
“Of course, we are pragmatic,” he commented. “We face a mountain of work to do, and it will likely be probably a challenging beginning, because this is Formula One. But we’re not there to stay at the back. I am confident with this setup, with this group, these people, it's entirely possible we won't be able to get relatively quickly to a competitive level and achieve good results.”
To realize that ambition hiring has been in full swing, with staff now at over 400 and intended to hit the target of six hundred rapidly. In addition to their current base at the UK base, the organization are in the midst of finishing an headquarters at the Fishers location in Indy and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are constructing the center to manufacture the 2029 engine, planned for the 2029 season – for now they will use power from Ferrari – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a complex organization, at odds with the direction in F1 for increased consolidation, and has led to the fresh organizational mindset to which Chester referred to.
Apollo Inspiration
“It's closely based on the NASA moon mission,” stated Lowdon just before the British GP in the summer. “We’re realistic, we understand how tough it is. The timelines, they’re super, super, super short. Well, it's not a space expedition, but it can seem that way.”
So they have embraced, rather than the conventional chain of command, a decentralized management comparable to that of the space agency's, where there were a range of specialist groups all working on different aspects of the project in a different facilities.
“In a system where you follow a protocol where someone has a problem and they escalate it to their team leader, that supervisor communicates with a supervisor at a different location, it travels back down, the process is very slow,” says Chester. “Therefore we enable staff to handle things directly. Eliminating hierarchical consent for each action is much smoother and faster.”
Upcoming Challenges
The effectiveness of this agile strategy will be tested in the heat of competition in 2026 and there is a considerable amount at stake for F1, too. Cadillac have recruited as their test driver the young Californian Colton Herta
