Approximately one year previously at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last given the go-ahead as F1's latest entrant for the 2026 season. Constructing the organization from nothing has entailed a intense work rate that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo program. As F1 arrives on Vegas this weekend, the team understand the deadline is approaching.
The Tight Timeline to Melbourne
At the last event of the championship to be staged in the US, with around 100 days to go before they take to the track for the inaugural time in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a sisyphean challenge, they are conscious there will not be sufficient time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, became part of the nascent team in early 2023 soon after it was created, when the team were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its core ever since and gets a knowing grin when considering the ride.
“You can have five minutes looking back at what you have accomplished and go: ‘Incredible, what an achievement what the team has created in under three years,’” Chester states. “And then the following moment you think: ‘Well, we’ve still got a significant amount to do.’”
A Unique Challenge
Nick Chester enjoyed success at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s victorious seasons of 2005/2006 and was in control of technical development at the recently formed Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but nothing has truly matched the challenge of launching the all-American Cadillac brand, a factory team supported by the corporate entity, General Motors, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Creating an Formula One team from the ground up, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he observes. “There's nothing comparable. In an well-set team you don’t get the opportunity to transform organizational mindset.”
With each day that elapses thoughts are increasingly concentrated on the approaching moment of truth in Australia and targets are being set realistically.
“It's reasonable to expect that any incoming team coming in is likely to start at the back but simply getting on to the grid will be an accomplishment in itself,” Lowdon noted earlier this year and while Chester agreed with this sentiment he thought the team had a reputation to build as well.
“Our primary goal we aim to demonstrate is that we belong on the grid,” Chester explains. “So we arrive and we function efficiently. We want to show that we’re a proper team doing the proper actions on the track. Once we’ve shown that we’re really credible, then we aim to demonstrate progression subsequently.”
Driver Lineup and Recruitment Drive
In the summer they contracted Checo Pérez and Valtteri as their racers for the 2026 season, a tandem distinguished for their priceless expertise in competing at the leading positions in two championship-winning squads, the Red Bull team and Mercedes, and the Finnish driver reflected the attitude of fighting spirit.
“Certainly, we’re realistic,” Bottas stated. “There’s going to be a massive task to do, and we expect almost certainly a difficult start, because this is Formula One. But our goal isn't to finish last. I am confident given this organization, with this group, these personnel, it's entirely possible we shouldn’t be able to get relatively quickly up to the pace and taste victory.”
To achieve that goal recruitment has been in overdrive, with staff now at over 400 and intended to attain the target of 600 members quickly. In addition to their current base at Silverstone, the organization are in the process of completing an headquarters at Fishers, Indiana in Indianapolis and there is the GM plant in North Carolina, where they are constructing the plant to produce the new engine, scheduled for 2029 – for now they will operate with Ferrari power units – and the aerodynamic facility in Germany. It is a sophisticated organization, at odds with the direction in Formula One for increased consolidation, and has inspired the innovative team culture to which Nick Chester referred to.
Apollo Model
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo program,” remarked Graeme Lowdon just before the British Grand Prix in July. “We are pragmatic, we understand how challenging it is. The deadlines, 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 similar to that of NASA's, where there were a variety of project teams all focusing on distinct elements of the project across a multiple sites.
“When you must follow a procedure where an issue arises and they report it to their supervisor, that manager consults a leader at a different location, it is relayed back, the process is very slow,” notes the CTO. “Therefore we enable team members to handle things directly. Avoiding managerial sign-off for everything is much smoother and quicker.”
Upcoming Challenges
The effectiveness of this flexible methodology will be proven in the pressure of racing when the season begins and there is a considerable amount at stake for F1, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their test driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta
