Approximately one year previously at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally given the green light as F1's latest entry for the 2026 season. Building the squad from nothing has entailed a hectic operating tempo that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo program. As the sport arrives on Las Vegas this weekend, Cadillac know the deadline is approaching.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the last event of the championship to be staged in the America, with just over 100 days to go before they make their debut for the first time in Australia at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a monumental endeavor, they are cognizant there will not be adequate time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, became part of the nascent project in the spring of 2023 not long after it was established, when the squad were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its heart since then and has a amused expression when considering the ride.
“You might get a brief moment looking back at what you have accomplished and think: ‘Incredible, isn’t this fantastic what we’ve done in less than three years,’” Chester states. “Then the next minute you realize: ‘Yeah, there is still a great deal to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Challenge
Nick Chester enjoyed success at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s championship-winning seasons of 2005 and 2006 and was in command of technical direction at the then-new Mercedes electric racing team, but no other project has truly matched the challenge of launching the quintessentially American Cadillac brand, a works entry sponsored by the parent company, General Motors, into Formula One.
“Creating an F1 team from nothing, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he says. “It's unparalleled. In an well-set team you don’t get the possibility to alter organizational mindset.”
With each day that passes thoughts are increasingly concentrated on the impending decisive point in Melbourne 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 feat in itself,” the team principal commented earlier this year and while Nick Chester echoed this he believed the squad had a statement to make as well.
“The initial objective we want to show is that we deserve to be there,” he says. “In order that we turn up and we function efficiently. We seek to prove that this is a professional operation executing the correct procedures on the track. After we prove that our credentials are solid, then we will focus on progression subsequently.”
Racing Talent and Team Building Push
In late summer they signed Checo Pérez and Valtteri as their racers for the 2026 season, a tandem notable for their priceless expertise in competing at the sharp end in two championship-winning squads, the Red Bull team and Mercedes-AMG, and the Finnish driver expressed the sentiment of fighting spirit.
“Of course, we are pragmatic,” Bottas stated. “We have a massive task to do, and it will likely be probably a challenging beginning, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we’re not there to finish last. I am confident given this organization, with this team, these personnel, there is every reason that we shouldn’t be able to get relatively quickly to the front and achieve good results.”
To realize that ambition recruitment has been in full swing, with staff now at more than 400 and scheduled to hit the target of 600 rapidly. In addition to their existing facility at Silverstone, the team are in the midst of finishing an HQ at Fishers in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are constructing the plant to manufacture the 2029 engine, set for 2029 – in the meantime they will operate with power from Ferrari – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Germany. It is a intricate organization, contrary to the direction in F1 for increased consolidation, and has inspired the new cultural approach to which Chester referred.
Apollo Inspiration
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo program,” stated the team principal ahead of the British Grand Prix in mid-season. “We are pragmatic, we know how challenging it is. The schedules, they’re super, super, super short. Alright, it's not a space expedition, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have implemented, rather than the traditional management structure, a non-hierarchical approach akin to that of the space agency's, where there were a range of specialist groups all tackling various components of the project at a different facilities.
“If you have to go through a process where an issue arises and they raise it up to their team leader, that supervisor talks to a manager somewhere else, it is relayed back, it becomes inefficient,” notes the CTO. “So we empower people to really get on with it. Avoiding hierarchical consent for each action is much smoother and faster.”
The Future
The success of this nimble approach will be tested in the pressure of racing in 2026 and there is a significant degree riding on this for F1, too. Cadillac have signed as their development driver the young American Colton Herta
