Approximately twelve months ago at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last awarded the official approval as Formula One’s most recent entrant for 2026. Constructing the team from nothing has required a hectic pace of work that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo program. As F1 descends on Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac understand the deadline is approaching.
The Race Against Time to Australia
At the last event 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 first race of 2026, the Cadillac F1 project have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a never-ending task, they are cognizant there will never be enough hours in the day.
The CTO, Nick Chester, became part of the newly formed operation in March 2023 not long after it was formed, when the squad were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its core since then and enjoys a amused expression when reflecting on the experience.
“There might be a brief moment thinking back at what you’ve done and go: ‘Amazing, what an achievement what we’ve done in under three years,’” Chester states. “Then the following moment you realize: ‘Yes, there is still quite a lot to do.’”
An Unprecedented Challenge
The CTO had success at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s title-winning years of 2005 and 2006 and was in charge of technical direction at the new Mercedes Formula E team, but no other project has truly matched the task of bringing the all-American Cadillac marque, a works entry sponsored by the corporate entity, GM, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Establishing an F1 team from scratch, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” Chester remarks. “It is like nothing else. In an well-set team you won't have the possibility to alter organizational mindset.”
With each day that passes thoughts are sharper on the impending critical moment in Australia and goals are being set realistically.
“You have to assume that any new team joining the grid is probably going to finish last but simply getting on to the grid will be an achievement in itself,” Lowdon noted this year and while the CTO shared this view he thought the squad had a point to prove as well.
“The first thing we want to show is that we deserve to be there,” he emphasizes. “So that we turn up and we operate well. We aim to demonstrate that we’re a proper team doing the proper actions on the circuit. After we have demonstrated that we’re really credible, then we want to show forward movement from there on.”
Pilot Selection and Team Building Effort
In August they recruited Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their drivers for the 2026 season, a pair remarkable for their priceless expertise in operating at the sharp end in two top-tier teams, Red Bull and Mercedes, and Bottas expressed the mood of fighting spirit.
“Of course, we are pragmatic,” he said. “We have a huge amount of work to do, and it’s going to be probably a difficult start, because it's the top level of motorsport. But our goal isn't to remain at the rear. I am confident given this organization, with this team, this staff, it's entirely possible we won't be able to progress rapidly up to the pace and taste victory.”
To realize that ambition recruitment has been in full swing, with personnel now up to in excess of 400 and planned to hit the goal of six hundred rapidly. In addition to their current base at the Silverstone circuit, the team are in the midst of finishing an headquarters at Fishers, Indiana in the Indianapolis area and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are building the plant to manufacture the new engine, set for 2029 – for now they will use power from Ferrari – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a complex organisation, at odds with the trend in the sport for more centralization, and has prompted the fresh organizational mindset to which Nick Chester alluded.
Space Mission Model
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo project,” remarked Lowdon shortly before the British GP in mid-season. “We are pragmatic, we understand how difficult it is. The timelines, are incredibly tight. Alright, it's not a space expedition, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have implemented, rather than the conventional chain of command, a non-hierarchical approach similar to that of Nasa’s, where there were a range of project teams all working on different aspects of the project at a different facilities.
“If you have to go through a protocol where a challenge emerges and they escalate it to their supervisor, that manager consults a supervisor somewhere else, it goes back down the chain, it becomes inefficient,” explains the CTO. “Therefore we enable staff to handle things directly. Eliminating hierarchical consent for all decisions is much smoother and faster.”
What Lies Ahead
The success of this agile methodology will be evaluated in the pressure of racing next season and there is a considerable amount on the line for Formula One, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their development driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta
