Approximately one year ago at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were ultimately given the official approval as the world of Formula One's latest entrant for 2026. Building the squad from nothing has required a hectic pace of work that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo program. As the sport arrives on Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac are aware the clock is ticking.
The Tight Timeline to Australia
At the season finale of the season to be hosted in the United States, with approximately a hundred days to go before they hit the circuit for the maiden outing in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a never-ending endeavor, they are aware there will not be adequate time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, became part of the newly formed project in March 2023 soon after it was formed, when the organization were without even an official entry. He has been at its core from that point and enjoys a knowing grin when reflecting on the journey.
“You can have five minutes looking back at what you have accomplished and think: ‘Amazing, how impressive what we have built in a short three-year period,’” Chester states. “And then the next minute you think: ‘Well, we’ve still got a great deal to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Task
Nick Chester enjoyed success at Renault in the driver Fernando Alonso's victorious years of 2005/2006 and was in control of engineering strategy at the recently formed Mercedes electric racing team, but no previous experience has truly matched the task of launching the quintessentially American Cadillac marque, a factory team sponsored by the corporate entity, General Motors, into F1.
“Building an F1 team from scratch, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he says. “It's unparalleled. In an well-set team you won't have the chance to change team culture.”
With each passing day that elapses minds are increasingly concentrated on the looming critical moment in the Australian GP and expectations are being managed.
“You have to assume that any new team joining the grid is probably going to finish last but simply getting on to the grid will be an feat in itself,” Lowdon stated recently and while the CTO shared this view he believed the squad had a statement to make as well.
“The first thing we intend to prove is that we should be there,” Chester explains. “So we turn up and we operate well. We aim to demonstrate that we’re a proper team doing the correct procedures on the circuit. When we prove that we are a legitimate team, then we want to show improvement after that.”
Pilot Selection and Hiring Effort
In the summer they signed Sergio Pérez and Valtteri as their pilots for 2026, a pair remarkable for their vast knowledge in competing at the sharp end in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull Racing and the Mercedes team, and the Finnish driver reflected the mood of combative optimism.
“Certainly, we have a realistic outlook,” Bottas stated. “There’s going to be a massive task 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 am confident given this organization, with these individuals, this staff, there’s no reason why we can't manage to progress rapidly to the front and enjoy some success.”
To achieve that goal recruitment has been in overdrive, with personnel now reaching more than 400 and intended to hit the target of 600 members swiftly. Complementing their existing facility at Silverstone, the team are in the phase of building an headquarters at Fishers in Indianapolis and there is the GM works in North Carolina, where they are constructing the facility to build the 2029 engine, planned for the 2029 season – for now they will operate with power from Ferrari – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne. It is a intricate structure, at odds with the trend in Formula One for more centralization, and has prompted the fresh organizational mindset to which the CTO referred to.
Apollo Blueprint
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo program,” remarked the team principal just before the Silverstone race in the summer. “We have a clear-eyed view, we understand how tough it is. The timelines, they’re super, super, super short. OK, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it can seem that way.”
So they have adopted, instead of the conventional chain of command, a flat management structure similar to that of Nasa’s, where there were a range of Apollo teams all focusing on distinct elements of the mission at a different facilities.
“When you must follow a protocol where an issue arises and they report it to their team leader, that leader talks to a supervisor somewhere else, it is relayed back, it becomes inefficient,” says Nick Chester. “Therefore we enable staff to take charge. Moving away from management approval for everything is much smoother and quicker.”
The Future
The efficacy of this agile approach will be tested in the heat of competition in 2026 and there is no little amount at stake for F1, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their test driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
