Just over twelve months ago at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last awarded the green light as F1's most recent participant for 2026. Establishing the squad from scratch has entailed a frenetic operating tempo that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo program. As Formula One converges on the Vegas strip this weekend, the team understand time is getting tight.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the final race of the campaign to be hosted in the United States, with around a hundred days to go before they make their debut for the first time in Melbourne at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a sisyphean task, they are conscious there will not be sufficient time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, came aboard the embryonic operation in the spring of 2023 soon after it was established, when the team were without even an official entry. He has been at its core ever since and enjoys a wry smile when reflecting on the ride.
“You can have a brief moment reflecting at what the team has achieved and think: ‘Wow, isn’t this fantastic what we have built in less than three years,’” he says. “And then the very next instant you consider: ‘Yeah, there is still a great deal to do.’”
A Unique Task
Nick Chester achieved victories at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s victorious campaigns of 2005/2006 and was in command of engineering strategy at the new Mercedes Formula E team, but no previous experience has been quite like the challenge of bringing the all-American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry backed by the owner, General Motors Corporation, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Building an F1 team from scratch, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he says. “It's unparalleled. In an established team you rarely get the chance to transform organizational mindset.”
With each passing day that goes by minds are increasingly concentrated on the looming critical moment in the Australian GP and goals are being managed.
“You have to assume that any new team entering the sport is going to be last but simply getting on to the grid will be an accomplishment in itself,” Lowdon commented earlier this year and while the CTO shared this view he felt the organization had a point to prove as well.
“The first thing we want to show is that we should be there,” he emphasizes. “So we arrive and we function efficiently. We want to show that we’re a proper team doing the right things on the track. After we prove that we are a legitimate team, then we will focus on improvement subsequently.”
Driver Lineup and Team Building Effort
In the summer they contracted Sergio Pérez and Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a duo distinguished for their invaluable experience in operating at the leading positions in two of the sport’s biggest teams, the Red Bull team and the Mercedes team, and Bottas reflected the attitude of determined optimism.
“Of course, we have a realistic outlook,” Bottas stated. “There’s going to be a mountain of work to do, and it will likely be probably a tough opening, because it is F1. But our goal isn't to finish last. I believe with this setup, with this group, these personnel, it's entirely possible we can't manage to advance swiftly to a competitive level and taste victory.”
To that end staff acquisition has been in top gear, with personnel now up to over 400 and intended to reach the target of six hundred quickly. Alongside their present headquarters at the UK base, the squad are in the phase of finishing an main base at Fishers in Indianapolis and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are constructing the center to manufacture the 2029 engine, set for the 2029 season – in the meantime they will use Ferrari engines – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne, Germany. It is a intricate structure, different from the trend in F1 for increased consolidation, and has led to the fresh organizational mindset to which Nick Chester alluded.
NASA Model
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo program,” said the team principal shortly before the British GP in July. “We’re realistic, we know how challenging it is. The timelines, are incredibly tight. OK, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it can seem that way.”
So they have adopted, as opposed to the usual hierarchical system, a decentralized management similar to that of NASA's, where there were a range of Apollo teams all focusing on different aspects of the program at a different facilities.
“If you have to go through a procedure where someone has a problem and they report it to their supervisor, that manager communicates with a manager somewhere else, it goes back down the chain, it’s super slow,” says the CTO. “Therefore we enable team members to handle things directly. Moving away from hierarchical consent for each action is far more efficient and more rapid.”
Upcoming Challenges
The efficacy of this nimble approach will be tested in the pressure of racing next season and there is a significant degree on the line for the sport, too. Cadillac have recruited as their development driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta
