A little more than one year ago at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were ultimately given the go-ahead as the world of Formula One's newest participant for the 2026 season. Building the organization from the ground up has required a frenetic operating tempo that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo program. As Formula One arrives on Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac understand the deadline is approaching.
The Tight Timeline to Melbourne
At the last event of the season to be hosted in the United States, with approximately three months to go before they take to the track for the inaugural time in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a sisyphean endeavor, they are conscious there will not be sufficient time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, came aboard the embryonic project in the spring of 2023 soon after it was created, when the squad were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its core from that point and gets a wry smile when thinking about the experience.
“There might be a brief moment looking back at what you have accomplished and go: ‘Incredible, how impressive what we have built in under three years,’” Chester states. “And then the very next instant you realize: ‘Yes, we’ve still got a significant amount to do.’”
A Unique Opportunity
The CTO enjoyed success at Renault in Alonso's championship-winning campaigns of the mid-2000s and was in control of engineering strategy at the then-new Mercedes Formula E team, but no previous experience has truly matched the mission of bringing the quintessentially American Cadillac brand, a manufacturer-backed entry backed by the corporate entity, General Motors, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Creating an F1 team from nothing, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he says. “There's nothing comparable. In an established team you rarely get the possibility to alter team culture.”
With each passing day that elapses thoughts are sharper on the impending moment of truth in the Australian GP and targets are being handled.
“It's reasonable to expect that a brand-new squad entering the sport is likely to start at the back but merely participating will be an feat in itself,” the team principal stated earlier this year and while Chester echoed this he felt the organization had a reputation to build as well.
“Our primary goal we intend to prove is that we belong on the grid,” he says. “So we arrive and we perform competently. We aim to demonstrate that we are a serious contender executing the correct procedures on the circuit. When we have demonstrated that our credentials are solid, then we want to show improvement after that.”
Pilot Selection and Hiring Effort
In August they contracted Sergio Perez and Valtteri as their drivers for 2026, a tandem remarkable for their vast knowledge in competing at the front in two top-tier teams, the Red Bull team and the Mercedes team, and Bottas expressed the attitude of determined optimism.
“Naturally, we’re realistic,” he said. “We have a massive task to do, and it will likely be probably a tough opening, because it's the top level of motorsport. But our goal isn't to finish last. In my view with this structure, with this team, this staff, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to get relatively quickly to a competitive level and taste victory.”
To that end recruitment has been in top gear, with personnel now up to over 400 and planned to attain the goal of six hundred swiftly. Alongside their existing facility at the Silverstone circuit, the team are in the midst of finishing an headquarters at Fishers, Indiana in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM works in North Carolina, where they are building the center to produce the 2029 engine, planned for the 2029 season – for now they will operate with Ferrari engines – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Germany. It is a complex organization, different from the movement in F1 for more centralization, and has inspired the innovative team culture to which Chester referred to.
NASA Model
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo program,” remarked Lowdon shortly before the British Grand Prix in mid-season. “We are pragmatic, we recognize how challenging it is. The timelines, they’re super, super, super short. Alright, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have implemented, rather than the conventional chain of command, a flat management structure similar to that of the space agency's, where there were a variety of Apollo teams all tackling distinct elements of the project at a multiple sites.
“When you must follow a protocol where a challenge emerges and they raise it up to their team leader, that supervisor communicates with a supervisor in another department, it travels back down, it’s super slow,” explains Nick Chester. “We give authority to people to take charge. Moving away from managerial sign-off for all decisions is much smoother and more rapid.”
What Lies Ahead
The success of this nimble strategy will be proven in the heat of competition in 2026 and there is a significant degree at stake for F1, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their test driver the young American Colton Herta
