A little more than twelve months in the past at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally granted the green light as the world of Formula One's most recent entry for the 2026 season. Building the team from nothing has involved a hectic operating tempo that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo program. As Formula One arrives on the Vegas strip this race weekend, the team are aware the clock is ticking.
The Tight Timeline to Melbourne
At the season finale of the campaign to be hosted in the United States, with around three months to go before they make their debut 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 never-ending endeavor, they are cognizant there will not be enough hours in the day.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, came aboard the newly formed team in the spring of 2023 not long after it was established, when the team were without even an official entry. He has been at its core from that point and gets a amused expression when considering the experience.
“There might be a short period looking back at what you have accomplished and say: ‘Incredible, isn’t this fantastic what we have built in less than three years,’” Chester states. “And then the following moment you realize: ‘Well, we’ve still got a great deal to do.’”
A Unique Opportunity
Chester enjoyed success at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s championship-winning campaigns of 2005/2006 and was in command of engineering strategy at the then-new Mercedes Formula E team, but no other project has truly matched the challenge of introducing the all-American Cadillac brand, a factory team supported by the corporate entity, General Motors Corporation, into F1.
“Establishing an grand prix team from nothing, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he says. “It's unparalleled. In an well-set team you won't have the chance to change organizational mindset.”
With each day that goes by thoughts are increasingly concentrated on the looming moment of truth in the Australian GP and goals are being managed.
“One must presume that a brand-new squad joining the grid is going to be last but just making it to the starting line will be an achievement in itself,” Graeme Lowdon commented recently and while Nick Chester shared this view he thought the team had a point to prove as well.
“The initial objective we intend to prove is that we deserve to be there,” Chester explains. “In order that we turn up and we function efficiently. We seek to prove that we are a serious contender performing the right things on the circuit. When we have demonstrated that we are a legitimate team, then we will focus on progression from there on.”
Pilot Selection and Team Building Effort
In late summer they contracted Sergio Perez and Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a pair remarkable for their invaluable experience in operating at the sharp end in two top-tier teams, the Red Bull team and the Mercedes team, and Valtteri Bottas reflected the attitude of determined optimism.
“Of course, we are pragmatic,” he said. “There’s going to be a mountain of work to do, and it will likely be almost certainly a difficult start, because it is F1. But we’re not there to stay at the back. In my view with this structure, with these individuals, this staff, there is every reason that we shouldn’t be able to progress rapidly up to the pace and enjoy some success.”
To that end recruitment has been in full swing, with personnel now at in excess of 400 and intended to hit the target of 600 members quickly. In addition to their current base at the Silverstone circuit, the team are in the midst of finishing an main base at the Fishers location in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are constructing the facility to manufacture the new engine, set for 2029 – in the meantime they will use Ferrari power units – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a intricate organization, different from the trend in F1 for increased consolidation, and has inspired the fresh organizational mindset to which the CTO referred.
Space Mission Model
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo program,” said the team principal ahead of the British Grand Prix in mid-season. “We have a clear-eyed view, we understand how difficult it is. The timelines, they’re super, super, super short. Well, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it can seem that way.”
So they have implemented, rather than the traditional management structure, a decentralized management similar to that of NASA's, where there were a range of Apollo teams all tackling various components of the program in a multiple sites.
“If you have to go through a procedure where a challenge emerges and they report it to their supervisor, that supervisor consults a leader at a different location, it goes back down the chain, the process is very slow,” explains Nick Chester. “So we empower team members to handle things directly. Eliminating management approval for all decisions is so much cleaner and faster.”
What Lies Ahead
The effectiveness of this agile methodology will be tested in the intensity of Grand Prix when the season begins and there is a considerable amount riding on this for F1, too. Cadillac have signed as their test driver the emerging American Colton Herta
