A little more than one year in the past at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last given the go-ahead as F1's most recent entry for the 2026 season. Constructing the squad from scratch has required a hectic pace of work that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo program. As the sport arrives on Las Vegas this race weekend, the team know the deadline is approaching.
The Tight Timeline to Australia
At the last event of the campaign to be hosted in the America, with approximately 100 days to go before they take to the track for the maiden outing in Australia at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project 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, became part of the embryonic project in the spring of 2023 not long after it was formed, when the organization were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its heart from that point and gets a amused expression when considering the ride.
“There might be five minutes reflecting at what the team has achieved and say: ‘Amazing, isn’t this fantastic what we’ve done in under three years,’” he says. “But then the next minute you realize: ‘Yes, there is still quite a lot to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Opportunity
The CTO had success at Renault in Alonso's championship-winning seasons of 2005/2006 and was in control of technical development at the new Mercedes Formula E team, but no previous experience has truly matched the challenge of introducing the quintessentially American Cadillac marque, a manufacturer-backed entry sponsored by the corporate entity, GM, into Formula One.
“Creating an Formula One team from scratch, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he says. “It's unparalleled. In an established team you don’t get the opportunity to transform cultural approach.”
With each passing day that goes by focus are sharper on the looming critical moment in Melbourne and targets are being set realistically.
“You have to assume that any incoming team joining the grid is likely to start at the back but merely participating will be an feat in itself,” Lowdon commented recently and while Nick Chester echoed this he felt the organization had a point to prove as well.
“The first thing we intend to prove is that we belong on the grid,” he says. “In order that we show up and we function efficiently. We aim to demonstrate that this is a professional operation performing the proper actions on the circuit. After we prove that our credentials are solid, then we want to show progression after that.”
Pilot Selection and Hiring Effort
In late summer they contracted Checo Pérez and Valtteri as their racers for the 2026 season, a pair notable for their invaluable experience in performing at the front in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull and Mercedes, and Valtteri Bottas echoed the mood of fighting spirit.
“Naturally, we have a realistic outlook,” he said. “We have a mountain of work to do, and it’s going to be probably a challenging beginning, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we aren't joining to remain at the rear. I am confident with this setup, with these individuals, these people, there is every reason that we won't be able to advance swiftly to the front and achieve good results.”
To that end staff acquisition has been in overdrive, with staff now reaching more than 400 and scheduled to reach the goal of 600 swiftly. In addition to their present headquarters at Silverstone, the organization are in the midst of completing an HQ at Fishers, Indiana in the Indianapolis area and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are developing the center to produce the 2029 engine, set for 2029 – in the meantime they will run power from Ferrari – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Germany. It is a complex structure, contrary to the movement in F1 for increased consolidation, and has led to the new cultural approach to which Chester referred.
NASA Blueprint
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo program,” stated Graeme Lowdon just before the British GP in mid-season. “We are pragmatic, we recognize how challenging it is. The timelines, are incredibly tight. Well, it's not a space expedition, but it can seem that way.”
So they have adopted, instead of the traditional management structure, a non-hierarchical approach similar to that of Nasa’s, where there were a assortment of Apollo teams all tackling different aspects of the mission in a different facilities.
“When you must follow a process where an issue arises and they report it to their team leader, that leader consults a leader at a different location, it travels back down, the process is very slow,” says Chester. “Therefore we enable people to take charge. Moving away from managerial sign-off for each action is much smoother and more rapid.”
The Future
The success of this flexible approach will be proven in the pressure of racing when the season begins and there is no little amount at stake for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their development driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
