Just over a full year previously at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were at last given the go-ahead as Formula One’s latest participant for the 2026 season. Constructing the organization from nothing has involved a intense operating tempo that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo moon landing. As Formula One arrives on the Vegas strip this race weekend, Cadillac know the clock is ticking.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the final race of the championship to be hosted in the US, with just over a hundred 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 come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a sisyphean task, they are conscious there will not be enough hours in the day.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, joined the newly formed project in the spring of 2023 not long after it was created, when the squad were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its heart ever since and has a amused expression when considering the ride.
“There might be a brief moment reflecting at what you have accomplished and think: ‘Amazing, what an achievement what we’ve done in under three years,’” Chester states. “Then the following moment you realize: ‘Well, we’ve still got a significant amount to do.’”
A Unique Challenge
Chester achieved victories at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s victorious seasons of 2005 and 2006 and was in command of technical development at the new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no previous experience has been quite like the task of introducing the all-American Cadillac name, a factory team supported by the owner, GM, into F1.
“Creating an F1 team from scratch, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he observes. “It's unparalleled. In an established team you rarely get the chance to change organizational mindset.”
With every day that goes by focus are more focused on the approaching moment of truth in Australia and expectations are being managed.
“One must presume that any new team joining the grid is likely to start at the back but simply getting on to the grid will be an feat in itself,” Lowdon stated this year and while Nick Chester agreed with this sentiment he thought the team had a point to prove as well.
“The initial objective we intend to prove is that we should be there,” Chester explains. “So that we arrive and we operate well. We seek to prove that we are a serious contender performing the proper actions on the track. Once we prove that we are a legitimate team, then we will focus on forward movement subsequently.”
Pilot Selection and Team Building Drive
In the summer they recruited Checo Pérez and Bottas as their drivers for the 2026 season, a tandem notable for their priceless expertise in operating at the leading positions in two top-tier teams, the Red Bull team and Mercedes, and Bottas reflected the mood of determined optimism.
“Certainly, we have a realistic outlook,” he commented. “We have a massive task to do, and it’s going to be most likely a tough opening, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we’re not there to remain at the rear. I believe given this organization, with these individuals, these people, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to progress rapidly up to the pace and taste victory.”
To achieve that goal staff acquisition has been in full swing, with employees now up to more than 400 and scheduled to hit the goal of six hundred quickly. Complementing their current base at the UK base, the team are in the process of finishing an headquarters at Fishers, Indiana in Indianapolis and there is the GM works in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are developing the center to build the new engine, scheduled for 2029 – in the meantime they will operate with Ferrari power units – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Germany. It is a intricate organisation, contrary to the direction in Formula One for increased consolidation, and has prompted the new cultural approach to which Nick Chester referred to.
Apollo Model
“It's closely based on the Apollo project,” stated the team principal just before the British Grand Prix in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we understand how challenging it is. The deadlines, are extremely compressed. OK, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have implemented, rather than the usual hierarchical system, a decentralized management similar to that of NASA's, where there were a variety of specialist groups all working on various components of the project at a variety of locations.
“In a system where you follow a procedure where an issue arises and they escalate it to their manager, that leader communicates with a manager at a different location, it goes back down the chain, it’s super slow,” explains Chester. “We give authority to people to take charge. Moving away from managerial sign-off for all decisions is far more efficient and more rapid.”
What Lies Ahead
The efficacy of this nimble approach will be tested in the intensity of Grand Prix in 2026 and there is no little amount riding on this for Formula One, too. Cadillac have recruited as their test driver the emerging American Colton Herta
