Approximately a full year ago at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last awarded the go-ahead as Formula One’s most recent entrant for the 2026 season. Building the squad from the ground up has entailed a intense pace of work that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo program. As the sport converges on Vegas this race weekend, the team understand the deadline is approaching.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the season finale of the championship to be held in the United States, with around three months to go before they make their debut for the maiden outing in Australia at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a sisyphean challenge, they are conscious there will never be enough hours in the day.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, came aboard the newly formed operation in early 2023 soon after it was created, when the organization were without even an approved entry. He has been at its core ever since and enjoys a knowing grin when thinking about the experience.
“You can have a brief moment looking back at what you have accomplished and say: ‘Amazing, how impressive what the team has created in under three years,’” he notes. “Then the next minute you realize: ‘Yes, we’ve still got a significant amount to do.’”
An Unprecedented Task
The CTO achieved victories at Renault in the driver Fernando Alonso's championship-winning seasons of the mid-2000s and was in command of technical direction at the new Mercedes electric racing team, but no previous experience has truly matched the challenge of launching the iconic American Cadillac name, a factory team sponsored by the corporate entity, General Motors, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Building an Formula One team from nothing, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he observes. “It's unparalleled. In an well-set team you don’t get the opportunity to change organizational mindset.”
With every day that goes by minds are sharper on the impending decisive point in the Australian GP and targets are being set realistically.
“One must presume that any incoming team coming in is likely to start at the back but merely participating will be an feat in itself,” Graeme Lowdon noted recently and while the CTO shared this view he felt the organization had a statement to make as well.
“The first thing we want to show is that we should be there,” Chester explains. “So that we arrive and we operate well. We seek to prove that this is a professional operation doing the right things on the race track. When we prove that we are a legitimate team, then we want to show forward movement from there on.”
Pilot Selection and Recruitment Drive
In the summer they contracted Sergio Pérez and Valtteri as their pilots for the 2026 season, a duo notable for their invaluable experience in performing at the leading positions in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull and Mercedes-AMG, and Bottas reflected the attitude of combative optimism.
“Of course, we are pragmatic,” he said. “There’s going to be a massive task to do, and it’s going to be almost certainly a challenging beginning, because it's the top level of motorsport. But our goal isn't to remain at the rear. I am confident with this setup, with this team, these personnel, there’s no reason why we won't be able to get relatively quickly to the front and taste victory.”
To realize that ambition staff acquisition has been in overdrive, with employees now at over 400 and scheduled to attain the objective of 600 members rapidly. Complementing their existing facility at the UK base, the organization are in the process of building an headquarters at Fishers in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM works in North Carolina, where they are constructing the facility to produce the 2029 engine, set for the 2029 season – for now they will run Ferrari power units – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne. It is a complex organisation, at odds with the trend in F1 for increased consolidation, and has led to the innovative team culture to which Chester referred to.
Apollo Inspiration
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo project,” stated Lowdon shortly before the British GP in mid-season. “We’re realistic, we recognize how tough it is. The deadlines, are extremely compressed. Alright, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have implemented, instead of the conventional chain of command, a flat management structure similar to that of NASA's, where there were a range of project teams all tackling various components of the project across a different facilities.
“When you must follow a protocol where a challenge emerges and they report it to their team leader, that manager consults a supervisor in another department, it is relayed back, it’s super slow,” notes Nick Chester. “Therefore we enable staff to take charge. Moving away from management approval for all decisions is far more efficient and faster.”
Upcoming Challenges
The effectiveness of this flexible strategy will be tested in the pressure of racing next season and there is no little amount on the line for Formula One, too. Cadillac have recruited as their test driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
