Approximately one year previously at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were ultimately awarded the green light as F1's most recent entrant for 2026. Establishing the team from scratch has entailed a hectic operating tempo that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo program. As Formula One converges on Las Vegas this weekend, Cadillac are aware the deadline is approaching.
The Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the season finale of the campaign to be held in the US, with just over 100 days to go before they take to the track for the inaugural time in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a monumental endeavor, they are cognizant there will never be adequate time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, came aboard the nascent project in early 2023 shortly after it was formed, when the organization were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its center ever since and has a knowing grin when thinking about the journey.
“You can have five minutes thinking back at what you have accomplished and go: ‘Wow, how impressive what we’ve done in under three years,’” Chester states. “Then the next minute you realize: ‘Yes, there is still a significant amount to do.’”
An Unprecedented Task
The CTO had success at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s title-winning years of the mid-2000s and was in control of technical development at the new Mercedes Formula E team, but no other project has truly matched the challenge of introducing the iconic American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry sponsored by the corporate entity, General Motors, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Establishing an F1 team from nothing, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he observes. “It is like nothing else. In an established team you won't have the possibility to alter team culture.”
With each day that elapses minds are increasingly concentrated on the impending moment of truth in the Australian GP and targets are being managed.
“One must presume that a brand-new squad joining the grid is probably going to finish last but merely participating will be an achievement in itself,” Graeme Lowdon stated this year and while Nick Chester agreed with this sentiment he believed the organization had a point to prove as well.
“The initial objective we intend to prove is that we deserve to be there,” he says. “So we turn up and we operate well. We want to show that we are a serious contender performing the right things on the circuit. Once we’ve shown that we are a legitimate team, then we want to show forward movement from there on.”
Pilot Selection and Hiring Drive
In the summer they contracted Sergio Pérez and Bottas as their drivers for the 2026 season, a tandem distinguished for their invaluable experience in operating at the leading positions in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes-AMG, and Valtteri Bottas echoed the sentiment of combative optimism.
“Naturally, we’re realistic,” Bottas stated. “We face a massive task to do, and we expect almost certainly a tough opening, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we aren't joining to stay at the back. I believe given this organization, with this group, these personnel, there’s no reason why we can't manage to progress rapidly to the front and taste victory.”
To that end recruitment has been in top gear, with personnel now at over 400 and scheduled to hit the objective of 600 quickly. Complementing their existing facility at Silverstone, the team are in the phase of building an main base at Fishers, Indiana in Indy and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, where they are building the center to build the new engine, scheduled for 2029 – for now they will use Ferrari power units – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne, Germany. It is a sophisticated structure, contrary to the trend in F1 for greater centralisation, and has prompted the new cultural approach to which the CTO alluded.
Apollo Model
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo program,” remarked the team principal shortly before the Silverstone race in the summer. “We are pragmatic, we know how tough it is. The schedules, are incredibly tight. OK, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it can seem that way.”
So they have embraced, rather than the usual hierarchical system, a decentralized management similar to that of the space agency's, where there were a range of specialist groups all tackling distinct elements of the mission in a variety of locations.
“When you must follow a process where a challenge emerges and they raise it up to their manager, that leader talks to a supervisor at a different location, it goes back down the chain, the process is very slow,” explains the CTO. “So we empower people to handle things directly. Avoiding managerial sign-off for all decisions is much smoother and faster.”
What Lies Ahead
The efficacy of this agile methodology will be evaluated in the pressure of racing when the season begins and there is a considerable amount riding on this for F1, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their reserve driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta
