Approximately twelve months in the past at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately granted the official approval as the world of Formula One's newest entry for 2026. Building the organization from nothing has entailed a hectic pace of work that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo moon landing. As the sport descends on the Vegas strip this race weekend, Cadillac understand the deadline is approaching.
The Tight Timeline to Melbourne
At the last event of the campaign to be hosted in the United States, with just over three months to go before they hit the circuit for the inaugural time in Australia at the 2026 opener, the Cadillac F1 project have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a monumental challenge, they are aware there will never be sufficient time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, came aboard the newly formed project in the spring of 2023 soon after it was created, when the team were without even an official entry. He has been at its core from that point and gets a wry smile when reflecting on the journey.
“You might get five minutes looking back at what you have accomplished and think: ‘Incredible, isn’t this fantastic what we have built in a short three-year period,’” he notes. “But then the following moment you think: ‘Well, we still have a great deal to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Opportunity
Nick Chester enjoyed success at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s title-winning years of the mid-2000s and was in charge of engineering strategy at the recently formed Mercedes Formula E team, but no previous experience has quite compared with the task of introducing the quintessentially American Cadillac marque, a factory team sponsored by the owner, GM, into Formula One.
“Creating an Formula One team from the ground up, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he says. “There's nothing comparable. In an established team you don’t get the opportunity to change cultural approach.”
With each passing day that passes minds are increasingly concentrated on the impending moment of truth in Melbourne and targets are being handled.
“One must presume that a brand-new squad coming in is probably going to finish last but just making it to the starting line will be an achievement in itself,” Graeme Lowdon commented recently and while the CTO echoed this he felt the team had a reputation to build as well.
“The first thing we intend to prove is that we should be there,” he says. “In order that we show up and we function efficiently. We seek to prove that this is a professional operation performing the proper actions on the circuit. When we have demonstrated that we are a legitimate team, then we aim to demonstrate improvement from there on.”
Pilot Selection and Team Building Drive
In late summer they signed Sergio Pérez and Valtteri as their racers for 2026, a tandem distinguished for their priceless expertise in performing at the leading positions in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull Racing and the Mercedes team, and Valtteri Bottas expressed the attitude of determined optimism.
“Naturally, we’re realistic,” he commented. “We face a huge amount of work to do, and we expect most likely a difficult start, because this is Formula One. But our goal isn't to finish last. I am confident with this structure, with this group, these people, it's entirely possible we won't be able to advance swiftly to the front and taste victory.”
To that end recruitment has been in top gear, with employees now up to over 400 and scheduled to attain the target of 600 members quickly. Complementing their present headquarters at the UK base, the team are in the midst of completing an HQ at the Fishers location in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM works in North Carolina, where they are developing the facility to manufacture the new engine, scheduled for 2029 – until then they will operate with power from Ferrari – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Germany. It is a intricate organization, contrary to the trend in F1 for greater centralisation, and has led to the innovative team culture to which the CTO referred.
Apollo Model
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo program,” remarked Graeme Lowdon just before the Silverstone race in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we recognize how tough it is. The schedules, are incredibly tight. Alright, it's not a space expedition, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have embraced, instead of the usual hierarchical system, a decentralized management similar to that of NASA's, where there were a variety of specialist groups all tackling distinct elements of the program at a multiple sites.
“If you have to go through a procedure where someone has a problem and they escalate it to their manager, that leader talks to a leader at a different location, it is relayed back, it becomes inefficient,” says Chester. “We give authority to people to take charge. Eliminating hierarchical consent for each action is so much cleaner and quicker.”
The Future
The success of this flexible approach will be proven in the intensity of Grand Prix next season and there is no little amount on the line for the sport, too. Cadillac have recruited as their test driver the emerging American Colton Herta
