Approximately one year in the past at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately granted the official approval as F1's newest entry for 2026. Building the squad from scratch has involved a frenetic operating tempo that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo program. As Formula One descends on the Vegas strip this race weekend, the team are aware the clock is ticking.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the last event of the season to be held in the America, with approximately three months to go before they make their debut for the maiden outing in Australia at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a monumental task, they are cognizant there will not be enough hours in the day.
The CTO, Nick Chester, became part of the nascent operation in early 2023 soon after it was created, when the organization were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its center ever since and enjoys a knowing grin when considering the experience.
“There might be a brief moment reflecting at what you’ve done and go: ‘Incredible, how impressive what we have built in under three years,’” he says. “And then the very next instant you realize: ‘Well, there is still quite a lot to do.’”
An Unprecedented Opportunity
Chester achieved victories at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s title-winning seasons of 2005/2006 and was in control of engineering strategy at the new Mercedes Formula E team, but no other project has truly matched the challenge of launching the all-American Cadillac marque, a works entry sponsored by the corporate entity, GM, into F1.
“Establishing an F1 team from nothing, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” Chester remarks. “There's nothing comparable. In an established team you won't have the opportunity to change cultural approach.”
With every day that passes thoughts are increasingly concentrated on the looming decisive point in Australia and expectations are being managed.
“It's reasonable to expect that any incoming team entering the sport is probably going to finish last but simply getting on to the grid will be an feat in itself,” Lowdon noted this year and while the CTO shared this view he believed the squad had a statement to make as well.
“The initial objective we aim to demonstrate is that we deserve to be there,” he emphasizes. “So we turn up and we perform competently. We seek to prove that we are a serious contender performing the correct procedures on the track. When we have demonstrated that we’re really credible, then we aim to demonstrate forward movement subsequently.”
Racing Talent and Team Building Push
In August they recruited Sergio Pérez and Valtteri as their drivers for 2026, a pair notable for their invaluable experience in operating at the leading positions in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull and Mercedes, and the Finnish driver expressed the mood of fighting spirit.
“Certainly, we have a realistic outlook,” he said. “We have a mountain of work to do, and it will likely be probably a challenging beginning, because this is Formula One. But our goal isn't to finish last. I am confident given this organization, with these individuals, these personnel, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to get relatively quickly to the front and enjoy some success.”
To realize that ambition hiring has been in full swing, with staff now at in excess of 400 and planned to attain the target of six hundred quickly. Alongside their existing facility at the Silverstone circuit, the team are in the phase of finishing an main base at Fishers in the Indianapolis area and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, where they are developing the facility to build the 2029 engine, scheduled for 2029 – until then they will operate with Ferrari engines – and the aerodynamic facility in Germany. It is a complex organization, at odds with the movement in F1 for greater centralisation, and has led to the new cultural approach to which Chester alluded.
Apollo Model
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo project,” said Graeme Lowdon ahead of the British Grand Prix in the summer. “We have a clear-eyed view, we know how difficult it is. The timelines, they’re super, super, super short. Alright, it's not a space expedition, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have embraced, rather than the traditional management structure, a flat management structure akin to that of Nasa’s, where there were a variety of Apollo teams all tackling distinct elements of the project across a multiple sites.
“In a system where you follow a process where an issue arises and they raise it up to their supervisor, that supervisor talks to a leader at a different location, it is relayed back, the process is very slow,” explains the CTO. “So we empower team members to handle things directly. Eliminating managerial sign-off for each action is much smoother and quicker.”
The Future
The success of this nimble strategy will be evaluated in the pressure of racing next season and there is no little amount riding on this for the sport, too. Cadillac have signed as their reserve driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta
