Just over one year ago at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were at last awarded the official approval as F1's newest participant for the 2026 season. Building the organization from nothing has required a hectic operating tempo that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo moon landing. As Formula One descends on the Vegas strip this race weekend, the team understand the deadline is approaching.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the final race of the championship to be hosted in the US, with approximately three months to go before they make their debut for the inaugural time in Melbourne at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a never-ending endeavor, they are aware there will never be adequate time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, joined the embryonic team in early 2023 soon after it was established, when the organization were without even an approved entry. He has been at its center ever since and enjoys a knowing grin when reflecting on the ride.
“There might be five minutes looking back at what you have accomplished and say: ‘Amazing, what an achievement what we’ve done in a short three-year period,’” Chester states. “And then the next minute you realize: ‘Yes, we’ve still got a great deal to do.’”
A Unique Opportunity
The CTO had success at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s championship-winning years of 2005/2006 and was in charge of technical development at the then-new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but nothing has been quite like the mission of launching the iconic American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry backed by the owner, General Motors Corporation, into Formula One.
“Building an F1 team from the ground up, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” Chester remarks. “It is like nothing else. In an existing team you don’t get the chance to change team culture.”
With each day that passes focus are increasingly concentrated on the impending decisive point in the Australian GP and targets are being handled.
“One must presume that any new team coming in is likely to start at the back but merely participating will be an accomplishment in itself,” the team principal stated earlier this year and while Chester agreed with this sentiment he felt the team had a statement to make as well.
“The initial objective we aim to demonstrate is that we deserve to be there,” he says. “In order that we show up and we function efficiently. We seek to prove that this is a professional operation doing the correct procedures on the track. When we prove that our credentials are solid, then we want to show forward movement from there on.”
Pilot Selection and Team Building Drive
In August they signed Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their racers for the 2026 season, a pair distinguished for their vast knowledge in performing at the sharp end in two top-tier teams, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes-AMG, and Valtteri Bottas echoed the mood of fighting spirit.
“Of course, we are pragmatic,” Bottas stated. “We face a massive task to do, and we expect almost certainly a challenging beginning, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we aren't joining to stay at the back. I believe with this structure, with this group, these personnel, there’s no reason why we won't be able to get relatively quickly to the front and taste victory.”
To achieve that goal staff acquisition has been in top gear, with staff now at over 400 and intended to attain the goal of six hundred rapidly. Complementing their current base at the Silverstone circuit, the organization are in the phase of completing an main base at Fishers, Indiana in the Indianapolis area and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, where they are building the center to build the new engine, planned for the 2029 season – until then they will operate with Ferrari power units – and the aerodynamic facility in Germany. It is a sophisticated organisation, at odds with the movement in F1 for increased consolidation, and has led to the fresh organizational mindset to which Chester alluded.
Apollo Model
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo program,” remarked Lowdon shortly before the Silverstone race in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we know how difficult it is. The schedules, they’re super, super, super short. Alright, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have adopted, rather than the usual hierarchical system, a non-hierarchical approach akin to that of Nasa’s, where there were a variety of Apollo teams all focusing on various components of the mission in a variety of locations.
“If you have to go through a protocol where someone has a problem and they escalate it to their team leader, that manager consults a supervisor somewhere else, it travels back down, the process is very slow,” says Chester. “So we empower staff to handle things directly. Eliminating managerial sign-off for all decisions is much smoother and more rapid.”
What Lies Ahead
The effectiveness of this nimble strategy will be tested in the pressure of racing in 2026 and there is no little amount riding on this for F1, too. Cadillac have taken on as their reserve driver the young American Colton Herta
