Just over a full year previously at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally granted the official approval as the world of Formula One's newest entry for the 2026 season. Establishing the organization from the ground up has involved a intense work rate that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the NASA lunar mission. As F1 descends on Las Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac understand the clock is ticking.
The Countdown to Australia
At the final race of the campaign to be held in the United States, with just over 100 days to go before they make their debut for the first time in Australia at the first race of 2026, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a sisyphean challenge, they are cognizant there will never be adequate time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, came aboard the embryonic team in March 2023 soon after it was established, when the team were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its heart since then and has a knowing grin when reflecting on the journey.
“There might be a short period thinking back at what the team has achieved and go: ‘Incredible, how impressive what we’ve done in under three years,’” Chester states. “But then the next minute you think: ‘Yeah, we’ve still got quite a lot to do.’”
An Unprecedented Opportunity
The CTO enjoyed success at Renault in Alonso's title-winning years of 2005/2006 and was in command of technical direction at the new Mercedes electric racing team, but no other project has been quite like the task of launching the quintessentially American Cadillac marque, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the parent company, General Motors, into Formula One.
“Building an grand prix team from the ground up, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he says. “It's unparalleled. In an established team you don’t get the chance to alter organizational mindset.”
With every day that elapses minds are sharper on the approaching moment of truth in Melbourne and goals are being managed.
“You have to assume that any new team entering the sport is probably going to finish last but simply getting on to the grid will be an achievement in itself,” the team principal commented earlier this year and while Chester shared this view he felt the squad had a statement to make as well.
“The first thing we intend to prove is that we belong on the grid,” Chester explains. “So we turn up and we function efficiently. We seek to prove that this is a professional operation doing the right things on the race track. Once we’ve shown that we’re really credible, then we will focus on progression after that.”
Pilot Selection and Team Building Effort
In August they recruited Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their pilots for 2026, a pair notable for their invaluable experience in operating at the front in two top-tier teams, Red Bull Racing and the Mercedes team, and Valtteri Bottas expressed the sentiment of combative optimism.
“Certainly, we’re realistic,” he commented. “We face a massive task to do, and it will likely be most likely a challenging beginning, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we’re not there to remain at the rear. In my view with this setup, with this group, these personnel, there’s no reason why we won't be able to progress rapidly up to the pace and taste victory.”
To realize that ambition hiring has been in overdrive, with employees now reaching in excess of 400 and scheduled to reach the target of 600 quickly. Alongside their present headquarters at the Silverstone circuit, the organization are in the phase of finishing an HQ at Fishers in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM works in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are building the center to produce the new engine, planned for 2029 – until then they will operate with Ferrari power units – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a sophisticated structure, different from the direction in Formula One for more centralization, and has inspired the fresh organizational mindset to which the CTO referred to.
Apollo Model
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo project,” stated the team principal ahead of the British GP in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we understand how tough it is. The deadlines, they’re super, super, super short. Alright, 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 working on different aspects of the mission at a variety of locations.
“If you have to go through a procedure where someone has a problem and they raise it up to their manager, that manager communicates with a manager somewhere else, it travels back down, it becomes inefficient,” explains Chester. “Therefore we enable team members to really get on with it. Eliminating managerial sign-off for each action is much smoother and more rapid.”
Upcoming Challenges
The efficacy of this nimble strategy will be evaluated in the pressure of racing in 2026 and there is a significant degree riding on this for Formula One, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their development driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta
