Approximately one year previously at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were at last given the go-ahead as F1's latest participant for 2026. Establishing the squad from scratch has required a frenetic work rate that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo program. As F1 converges on the Vegas strip this weekend, the team understand the deadline is approaching.
The Countdown to Australia
At the last event of the campaign to be staged in the US, with around three months to go before they take to the track for the first time in Melbourne at the first race of 2026, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a sisyphean task, they are conscious there will never be adequate time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, came aboard the newly formed team in the spring of 2023 soon after it was created, when the squad were without even an approved entry. He has been at its core since then and has a amused expression when reflecting on the experience.
“You can have five minutes reflecting at what you have accomplished and think: ‘Wow, isn’t this fantastic what the team has created in a short three-year period,’” he says. “Then the following moment you think: ‘Yes, we’ve still got quite a lot to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Task
The CTO had success at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s title-winning seasons of 2005 and 2006 and was in command of technical direction at the recently formed Mercedes Formula E team, but nothing has truly matched the challenge of bringing the quintessentially American Cadillac name, a factory team sponsored by the corporate entity, General Motors, into F1.
“Creating an F1 team from nothing, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” Chester remarks. “There's nothing comparable. In an established team you rarely get the chance to alter organizational mindset.”
With every day that elapses focus are sharper on the approaching moment of truth in Australia and targets are being handled.
“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 achievement in itself,” Graeme Lowdon stated recently and while Chester agreed with this sentiment he thought the organization had a point to prove as well.
“The initial objective we intend to prove is that we belong on the grid,” Chester explains. “So we arrive and we perform competently. We aim to demonstrate that this is a professional operation doing the proper actions on the circuit. Once we have demonstrated that we are a legitimate team, then we aim to demonstrate progression after that.”
Pilot Selection and Recruitment Drive
In late summer they contracted Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their drivers for the 2026 season, a duo distinguished for their priceless expertise in competing at the leading positions in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull Racing and the Mercedes team, and the Finnish driver echoed the attitude of determined optimism.
“Naturally, we have a realistic outlook,” he commented. “We have a massive task to do, and we expect almost certainly a difficult start, because it is F1. But we aren't joining to remain at the rear. I believe with this setup, with this team, these personnel, it's entirely possible we won't be able to advance swiftly up to the pace and enjoy some success.”
To that end hiring has been in full swing, with staff now reaching over 400 and intended to reach the objective of 600 swiftly. Alongside their present headquarters at the Silverstone circuit, the organization are in the midst of building an HQ at Fishers, Indiana in Indy and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are constructing the plant to manufacture the new engine, scheduled for 2029 – for now they will run Ferrari engines – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a intricate organization, contrary to the trend in F1 for greater centralisation, and has prompted the fresh organizational mindset to which the CTO alluded.
Apollo Blueprint
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo project,” stated the team principal ahead of the Silverstone race in mid-season. “We have a clear-eyed view, we recognize how difficult it is. The timelines, they’re super, super, super short. Well, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it can seem that way.”
So they have implemented, as opposed to the conventional chain of command, a decentralized management similar to that of Nasa’s, where there were a assortment of project teams all tackling various components of the project across a multiple sites.
“If you have to go through a protocol where a challenge emerges and they escalate it to their manager, that manager consults a leader somewhere else, it goes back down the chain, it’s super slow,” notes Chester. “We give authority to people to really get on with it. Eliminating managerial sign-off for everything is far more efficient and quicker.”
What Lies Ahead
The effectiveness of this nimble approach will be proven in the heat of competition when the season begins and there is a significant degree on the line for Formula One, too. Cadillac have recruited as their reserve driver the young Californian Colton Herta
