Just over twelve months previously at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last granted the green light as F1's newest entry for the 2026 season. Constructing the squad from scratch has required a intense operating tempo that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo program. As the sport arrives on Las Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac know time is getting tight.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the season finale of the championship to be hosted in the US, with approximately a hundred days to go before they hit the circuit for the maiden outing in Australia at the first race of 2026, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a sisyphean task, they are cognizant there will not be sufficient time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, came aboard the newly formed project in early 2023 soon after it was established, when the squad were without even an approved entry. He has been at its center since then and enjoys a knowing grin when considering the ride.
“You might get five minutes looking back at what you have accomplished and go: ‘Incredible, what an achievement what the team has created in under three years,’” he says. “Then the following moment you realize: ‘Yes, there is still a great deal to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Challenge
Nick Chester had success at Renault in the driver Fernando Alonso's championship-winning years of the mid-2000s and was in control of technical direction at the then-new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but nothing has truly matched the mission of introducing the all-American Cadillac marque, a factory team backed by the parent company, General Motors, into Formula One.
“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 don’t get the opportunity to transform team culture.”
With each passing day that passes focus are sharper on the looming critical moment in Australia and expectations are being handled.
“You have to assume that any new team coming in is likely to start at the back but simply getting on to the grid will be an feat in itself,” Graeme Lowdon stated this year and while the CTO shared this view he thought the team had a statement to make as well.
“The initial objective we aim to demonstrate is that we belong on the grid,” Chester explains. “In order that we show up and we operate well. We seek to prove that this is a professional operation executing the right things on the circuit. After we prove that our credentials are solid, then we will focus on improvement subsequently.”
Pilot Selection and Recruitment Drive
In late summer they signed Sergio Perez and Valtteri as their drivers for the 2026 season, a tandem notable for their priceless expertise in operating at the front in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull Racing and the Mercedes team, and the Finnish driver reflected the sentiment of combative optimism.
“Naturally, we are pragmatic,” he commented. “We face a mountain of work to do, and it’s going to be probably a tough opening, because this is Formula One. But our goal isn't to remain at the rear. I believe given this organization, with this group, these people, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to progress rapidly to the front and taste victory.”
To realize that ambition recruitment has been in full swing, with personnel now at in excess of 400 and planned to reach the target of 600 quickly. In addition to their existing facility at the UK base, the squad are in the phase of building an headquarters at Fishers, Indiana in Indianapolis and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are constructing the facility to manufacture the 2029 engine, scheduled for 2029 – in the meantime they will run Ferrari engines – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne. It is a complex structure, at odds with the direction in Formula One for increased consolidation, and has led to the fresh organizational mindset to which Nick Chester referred.
Apollo Inspiration
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo program,” stated Graeme Lowdon shortly before the British Grand Prix in mid-season. “We have a clear-eyed view, we recognize how tough 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 adopted, instead of the usual hierarchical system, a decentralized management akin to that of NASA's, where there were a range of project teams all tackling distinct elements of the project across a different facilities.
“When you must follow a protocol where a challenge emerges and they raise it up to their supervisor, that manager communicates with a leader in another department, it is relayed back, the process is very slow,” explains the CTO. “So we empower staff to take charge. Avoiding management approval for all decisions is much smoother and faster.”
The Future
The success of this agile strategy will be proven in the pressure of racing next season and there is a considerable amount on the line for F1, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their test driver the emerging American Colton Herta
