A little more than a full year in the past at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last granted the official approval as the world of Formula One's latest entrant for the 2026 season. Constructing the squad from the ground up has involved a frenetic operating tempo that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo program. As Formula One arrives on Las Vegas this race weekend, the team understand the clock is ticking.
The Tight Timeline to Melbourne
At the final race of the campaign to be held in the America, with approximately three months to go before they take to the track for the maiden outing in Melbourne at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a never-ending task, they are aware there will not be sufficient time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, came aboard the embryonic operation in the spring of 2023 soon after it was created, when the squad were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its core ever since and gets a wry smile when reflecting on the journey.
“There might be a short period thinking back at what the team has achieved and say: ‘Amazing, how impressive what we have built in under three years,’” he says. “Then the very next instant you think: ‘Yeah, there is still a significant amount to do.’”
An Unprecedented Opportunity
Nick Chester achieved victories at Renault in the driver Fernando Alonso's title-winning years of the mid-2000s and was in control of technical development at the then-new Mercedes Formula E team, but no previous experience has quite compared with the mission of bringing the all-American Cadillac marque, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the parent company, General Motors Corporation, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Establishing an grand prix team from scratch, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he says. “It is like nothing else. In an existing team you won't have the possibility to alter organizational mindset.”
With each day that passes focus are more focused on the impending moment of truth in Melbourne and goals are being managed.
“You have to assume that a brand-new squad entering the sport is going to be last but just making it to the starting line will be an feat in itself,” Graeme Lowdon stated earlier this year and while the CTO agreed with this sentiment he thought the team had a reputation to build as well.
“Our primary goal we aim to demonstrate is that we belong on the grid,” he emphasizes. “So that we show up and we perform competently. We aim to demonstrate that this is a professional operation doing the proper actions on the circuit. After we have demonstrated that we’re really credible, then we want to show progression from there on.”
Racing Talent and Team Building Effort
In late summer they contracted Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their pilots for 2026, a duo distinguished for their priceless expertise in competing at the sharp end in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull and the Mercedes team, and Bottas reflected the sentiment of determined optimism.
“Naturally, we are pragmatic,” Bottas stated. “There’s going to be a massive task to do, and we expect probably a challenging beginning, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we aren't joining to stay at the back. I am confident with this structure, with this group, these people, there’s no reason why we won't be able to advance swiftly to a competitive level and achieve good results.”
To that end recruitment has been in overdrive, with personnel now reaching in excess of 400 and planned to hit the objective of 600 quickly. Complementing their present headquarters at the UK base, the team are in the phase of building an headquarters at Fishers, Indiana in the Indianapolis area and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, where they are developing the plant to manufacture the new engine, set for 2029 – in the meantime they will use power from Ferrari – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Germany. It is a intricate structure, at odds with the direction in the sport for greater centralisation, and has led to the new cultural approach to which the CTO referred.
Apollo Model
“It's closely based on the Apollo program,” remarked Graeme Lowdon shortly before the British GP in mid-season. “We have a clear-eyed view, we know how tough it is. The timelines, are incredibly tight. Alright, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it can seem that way.”
So they have embraced, rather than the conventional chain of command, a flat management structure comparable to that of NASA's, where there were a variety of project teams all tackling various components of the program in a different facilities.
“If you have to go through a protocol where someone has a problem and they report it to their manager, that supervisor consults a manager in another department, it travels back down, it becomes inefficient,” says the CTO. “So we empower staff to take charge. Avoiding hierarchical consent for each action is much smoother and more rapid.”
Upcoming Challenges
The efficacy of this agile approach will be tested in the heat of competition when the season begins and there is no little amount at stake for F1, too. The Cadillac team have taken on as their reserve driver the emerging American Colton Herta
