A little more than a full year ago at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately granted the official approval as the world of Formula One's most recent participant for 2026. Establishing the organization from the ground up has entailed a frenetic work rate that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo program. As the sport converges on the Vegas strip this race weekend, the team are aware the deadline is approaching.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the final race of the season to be held in the America, with approximately three months 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 never-ending endeavor, they are cognizant there will never be sufficient time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, joined the newly formed project in the spring of 2023 soon after it was established, when the squad were without even an approved entry. He has been at its center ever since and has a knowing grin when reflecting on the ride.
“There might be five minutes thinking back at what the team has achieved and go: ‘Wow, isn’t this fantastic what we’ve done in under three years,’” Chester states. “And then the following moment you think: ‘Yes, there is still a significant amount to do.’”
A Unique Challenge
The CTO enjoyed success at Renault in the driver Fernando Alonso's title-winning years of the mid-2000s and was in control of technical direction at the then-new Mercedes Formula E team, but no other project has been quite like the mission of bringing the quintessentially American Cadillac brand, a factory team supported by the corporate entity, General Motors, into F1.
“Creating an F1 team from the ground up, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he says. “It's unparalleled. In an established team you rarely get the opportunity to change cultural approach.”
With each passing day that elapses focus are increasingly concentrated on the approaching decisive point in Melbourne and expectations are being handled.
“It's reasonable to expect that any new team entering the sport is going to be last but just making it to the starting line will be an accomplishment in itself,” the team principal commented recently and while the CTO agreed with this sentiment he believed the organization had a statement to make as well.
“The first thing we aim to demonstrate is that we should be there,” Chester explains. “So that we show up and we function efficiently. We seek to prove that this is a professional operation executing the proper actions on the circuit. When we have demonstrated that we are a legitimate team, then we aim to demonstrate progression after that.”
Racing Talent and Recruitment Drive
In late summer they recruited Checo Pérez and Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a pair distinguished for their vast knowledge in operating at the sharp end in two top-tier teams, Red Bull Racing and the Mercedes team, and Bottas expressed the mood of determined optimism.
“Certainly, we’re realistic,” Bottas stated. “We have a massive task to do, and it will likely be most likely a tough opening, because this is Formula One. But we aren't joining to finish last. I am confident with this structure, with this team, these personnel, there is every reason that we won't be able to advance swiftly to a competitive level and achieve good results.”
To achieve that goal recruitment has been in top gear, with employees now reaching over 400 and planned to attain the goal of 600 members quickly. In addition to their existing facility at the UK base, the organization are in the process of finishing an HQ at the Fishers location in Indy and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are constructing the center to produce the new engine, set for 2029 – for now they will operate with Ferrari power units – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne, Germany. It is a sophisticated structure, at odds with the movement in Formula One for increased consolidation, and has led to the fresh organizational mindset to which Nick Chester alluded.
Apollo Blueprint
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo project,” remarked the team principal shortly before the Silverstone race in July. “We are pragmatic, we know how tough it is. The deadlines, are incredibly tight. Well, it's not a space expedition, but it can seem that way.”
So they have embraced, as opposed to the conventional chain of command, a decentralized management comparable to that of the space agency's, where there were a assortment of Apollo teams all working on various components of the project across a different facilities.
“In a system where you follow a procedure where an issue arises and they raise it up to their team leader, that leader consults a leader at a different location, it goes back down the chain, it’s super slow,” explains Chester. “Therefore we enable people to take charge. Moving away from managerial sign-off for everything is so much cleaner and faster.”
The Future
The effectiveness of this agile strategy will be evaluated in the pressure of racing next season and there is a significant degree on the line for F1, too. Cadillac have recruited as their reserve driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta
