Approximately one year in the past at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately given the go-ahead as F1's latest entry for the 2026 season. Establishing the squad from scratch has involved a hectic operating tempo that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo program. As Formula One converges on Las Vegas this weekend, Cadillac know the deadline is approaching.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the season finale of the championship to be held in the United States, with just over three months to go before they make their debut for the first time in Australia at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a monumental task, they are conscious there will never be adequate time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, came aboard the nascent team in March 2023 shortly after it was created, when the team were without even an official entry. He has been at its heart from that point and has a wry smile when thinking about the journey.
“There might be a short period looking back at what you’ve done and think: ‘Wow, isn’t this fantastic what we have built in less than three years,’” he notes. “Then the next minute you consider: ‘Well, we still have quite a lot to do.’”
An Unprecedented Opportunity
Chester had success at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s championship-winning campaigns of 2005 and 2006 and was in charge of technical direction at the recently formed Mercedes electric racing team, but no previous experience has been quite like the challenge of launching the quintessentially American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the corporate entity, GM, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Building an F1 team from the ground up, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” Chester remarks. “It's unparalleled. In an existing team you don’t get the opportunity to alter cultural approach.”
With each day that passes focus are increasingly concentrated on the approaching decisive point in Australia and goals are being managed.
“One must presume that any new team joining the grid is likely to start at the back but just making it to the starting line will be an accomplishment in itself,” Graeme Lowdon stated earlier this year and while Nick Chester shared this view he thought the organization had a statement to make as well.
“The first thing we want to show is that we should be there,” he says. “So we turn up and we perform competently. We aim to demonstrate that we are a serious contender executing the right things on the track. When we’ve shown that we’re really credible, then we will focus on forward movement from there on.”
Racing Talent and Hiring Push
In the summer they signed Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas as their pilots for the 2026 season, a duo remarkable for their priceless expertise in operating at the leading positions in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes-AMG, and the Finnish driver expressed the attitude of combative optimism.
“Certainly, we have a realistic outlook,” he commented. “We face a massive task to do, and it’s going to be almost certainly a tough opening, because it is F1. But our goal isn't 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 progress rapidly to a competitive level and taste victory.”
To that end hiring has been in full swing, with staff now at more than 400 and planned to reach the goal of six hundred rapidly. In addition to their current base at Silverstone, the team are in the midst of building an main base at the Fishers location in Indy and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, where they are developing the plant to manufacture the power unit, set for 2029 – in the meantime they will use Ferrari power units – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a sophisticated organisation, at odds with the trend in F1 for increased consolidation, and has inspired the innovative team culture to which Chester alluded.
Apollo Blueprint
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo program,” remarked Graeme Lowdon just before the British Grand Prix in July. “We are pragmatic, we recognize how challenging it is. The schedules, are incredibly tight. Alright, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have embraced, instead of the usual hierarchical system, a flat management structure akin to that of Nasa’s, where there were a range of specialist groups all working on distinct elements of the program across a different facilities.
“When you must follow a protocol where a challenge emerges and they report it to their team leader, that leader communicates with a manager at a different location, it is relayed back, the process is very slow,” notes the CTO. “We give authority to staff to really get on with it. Avoiding hierarchical consent for everything is far more efficient and more rapid.”
What Lies Ahead
The effectiveness of this agile strategy will be proven in the intensity of Grand Prix when the season begins and there is a considerable amount at stake for the sport, too. Cadillac have recruited as their reserve driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta
