Approximately twelve months ago at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last awarded the go-ahead as F1's most recent participant for the 2026 season. Establishing the team from the ground up has involved a frenetic work rate that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo program. As the sport arrives on Las Vegas this weekend, Cadillac are aware the clock is ticking.
The Race Against Time to Australia
At the last event of the season to be staged in the America, with approximately three months to go before they make their debut for the first time in Melbourne at the first race of 2026, the Cadillac F1 project have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a monumental challenge, they are cognizant there will never be enough hours in the day.
The CTO, Nick Chester, joined the nascent project in early 2023 soon after it was established, when the team were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its core ever since and gets a wry smile when thinking about the experience.
“You can have a brief moment looking back at what you’ve done and go: ‘Amazing, what an achievement what we have built in less than three years,’” he says. “Then the following moment you realize: ‘Yes, there is still quite a lot to do.’”
A Unique Opportunity
Chester enjoyed success at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s championship-winning campaigns of 2005 and 2006 and was in charge of engineering strategy at the recently formed Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but nothing has been quite like the mission of launching the iconic American Cadillac marque, a factory team backed by the owner, General Motors Corporation, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Building an F1 team from nothing, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he says. “There's nothing comparable. In an established team you won't have the opportunity to change team culture.”
With every day that elapses thoughts are increasingly concentrated on the approaching decisive point in Australia and goals are being handled.
“One must presume that a brand-new squad entering the sport is going to be last but just making it to the starting line will be an feat in itself,” the team principal stated earlier this year and while the CTO shared this view he felt the team had a reputation to build as well.
“The initial objective we want to show is that we belong on the grid,” he says. “So we turn up and we operate well. We want to show that we are a serious contender performing the correct procedures on the circuit. After we’ve shown that we’re really credible, then we will focus on forward movement subsequently.”
Driver Lineup and Team Building Drive
In late summer they signed Sergio Perez and Bottas as their pilots for 2026, a tandem notable for their vast knowledge in performing at the front in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes, and Bottas reflected the sentiment of determined optimism.
“Naturally, we have a realistic outlook,” Bottas stated. “We have a huge amount of work to do, and it’s going to be probably a tough opening, because this is Formula One. But we aren't joining to finish last. In my view given this organization, with these individuals, these people, it's entirely possible we won't be able to advance swiftly up to the pace and achieve good results.”
To achieve that goal staff acquisition has been in overdrive, with staff now reaching more than 400 and intended to attain the target of 600 members quickly. In addition to their current base at Silverstone, the organization are in the phase of building an HQ at Fishers, Indiana in Indy and there is the General Motors facility in North Carolina, where they are developing the facility to manufacture the new engine, set for the 2029 season – for now they will use power from Ferrari – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Germany. It is a intricate organization, contrary to the movement in Formula One for greater centralisation, and has prompted the new cultural approach to which the CTO referred.
Apollo Model
“It's closely based on the Apollo program,” said the team principal ahead of the British GP in mid-season. “We have a clear-eyed view, we understand how challenging it is. The timelines, are incredibly tight. OK, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have adopted, as opposed to the usual hierarchical system, a decentralized management comparable to that of the space agency's, where there were a variety of project teams all tackling different aspects of the mission at a different facilities.
“In a system where you follow a procedure where a challenge emerges and they raise it up to their manager, that leader consults a manager somewhere else, it is relayed back, the process is very slow,” says the CTO. “So we empower staff to really get on with it. Avoiding managerial sign-off for everything is so much cleaner and faster.”
What Lies Ahead
The success of this flexible strategy will be evaluated in the pressure of racing in 2026 and there is a considerable amount on the line for F1, too. Cadillac have signed as their development driver the young Californian Colton Herta
