A little more than twelve months previously at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last given the green light as the world of Formula One's newest entry for 2026. Building the team from scratch has involved a intense work rate that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo program. As F1 converges on Las Vegas this race weekend, the team are aware the clock is ticking.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the season finale of the campaign to be held in the United States, with around three months to go before they hit the circuit for the first time in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a never-ending task, they are aware there will not be enough hours in the day.
The CTO, Nick Chester, became part of the newly formed project in March 2023 not long after it was created, when the team were without even an approved entry. He has been at its heart from that point and enjoys a knowing grin when reflecting on the experience.
“You can have five minutes reflecting at what you’ve done and think: ‘Amazing, how impressive what the team has created in under three years,’” Chester states. “Then the very next instant you think: ‘Yes, there is still a great deal to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Task
Nick Chester enjoyed success at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s victorious campaigns of 2005 and 2006 and was in charge of engineering strategy at the recently formed Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no previous experience has been quite like the mission of bringing the iconic American Cadillac brand, a manufacturer-backed entry backed by the owner, GM, into Formula One.
“Building an grand prix team from nothing, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he says. “It is like nothing else. In an established team you won't have the opportunity to alter cultural approach.”
With each day that elapses minds are increasingly concentrated on the approaching moment of truth in Australia and expectations are being managed.
“You have to assume that a brand-new squad entering the sport is probably going to finish last but just making it to the starting line will be an feat in itself,” Graeme Lowdon noted this year and while Chester agreed with this sentiment he felt the organization had a statement to make as well.
“The initial objective we aim to demonstrate is that we should be there,” Chester explains. “So that we arrive and we function efficiently. We aim to demonstrate that we are a serious contender performing the right things on the circuit. Once we have demonstrated that we’re really credible, then we want to show progression from there on.”
Racing Talent and Team Building Push
In late summer they contracted Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a tandem distinguished for their invaluable experience in competing at the front in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull and the Mercedes team, and Valtteri Bottas reflected the attitude of determined optimism.
“Naturally, we’re realistic,” Bottas stated. “We face a massive task to do, and it’s going to be most likely a challenging beginning, because this is Formula One. But we aren't joining to stay at the back. I am confident given this organization, with this team, these personnel, there is every reason that we won't be able to advance swiftly to a competitive level and taste victory.”
To achieve that goal staff acquisition has been in overdrive, with staff now at more than 400 and scheduled to attain the objective of six hundred rapidly. In addition to their existing facility at the UK base, the team are in the process of completing an main base at Fishers, Indiana in Indianapolis and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are constructing the facility to produce the 2029 engine, planned for the 2029 season – until then they will use Ferrari power units – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a intricate structure, at odds with the trend in Formula One for increased consolidation, and has led to the fresh organizational mindset to which the CTO referred.
Apollo Blueprint
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo program,” said Graeme Lowdon ahead of the Silverstone race in mid-season. “We’re realistic, we understand how difficult it is. The deadlines, are extremely compressed. Alright, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have implemented, instead of the conventional chain of command, a non-hierarchical approach akin to that of Nasa’s, where there were a variety of project teams all working on different aspects of the project across a variety of locations.
“In a system where you follow a protocol where an issue arises and they escalate it to their supervisor, that supervisor consults a supervisor somewhere else, it travels back down, it’s super slow,” says Nick Chester. “We give authority to team members to really get on with it. Moving away from management approval for all decisions is far more efficient and faster.”
The Future
The effectiveness of this agile methodology will be proven in the heat of competition next season and there is no little amount at stake for Formula One, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their test driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta
