Just over a full year in the past at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were at last awarded the green light as the world of Formula One's latest entrant for 2026. Establishing the organization from scratch has involved a intense operating tempo that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo program. As Formula One converges on Las Vegas this race weekend, the team know the clock is ticking.
The Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the season finale of the season to be hosted in the United States, with around 100 days to go before they make their debut for the maiden outing in Melbourne at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a monumental task, they are conscious there will not be sufficient time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, came aboard the nascent operation in the spring of 2023 soon after it was created, when the team were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its heart from that point and gets a wry smile when considering the journey.
“There might be a brief moment thinking back at what you have accomplished and go: ‘Amazing, isn’t this fantastic what the team has created in under three years,’” he says. “And then the next minute you realize: ‘Well, we still have a great deal to do.’”
An Unprecedented Challenge
Chester enjoyed success at Renault in the driver Fernando Alonso's championship-winning years of 2005 and 2006 and was in command of engineering strategy at the new Mercedes electric racing team, but nothing has been quite like the mission of bringing the all-American Cadillac brand, a factory team backed by the parent company, GM, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Creating an F1 team from the ground up, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he observes. “There's nothing comparable. In an existing team you rarely get the chance to alter organizational mindset.”
With each day that elapses thoughts are increasingly concentrated on the impending critical moment in Melbourne and expectations are being managed.
“You have to assume that any incoming team entering the sport is going to be last but simply getting on to the grid will be an achievement in itself,” the team principal noted recently and while Nick Chester shared this view he felt the squad had a reputation to build as well.
“Our primary goal we aim to demonstrate is that we deserve to be there,” he emphasizes. “So that we arrive and we operate well. We aim to demonstrate that we’re a proper team performing the right things on the track. Once we’ve shown that our credentials are solid, then we aim to demonstrate improvement after that.”
Driver Lineup and Hiring Drive
In August they signed Sergio Pérez and Valtteri as their pilots for the 2026 season, a tandem distinguished for their priceless expertise in performing at the front in two championship-winning squads, the Red Bull team and Mercedes-AMG, and Valtteri Bottas echoed the attitude of combative optimism.
“Certainly, we have a realistic outlook,” he commented. “We face a mountain of work to do, and it will likely be probably a challenging beginning, because this is Formula One. But we aren't joining to stay at the back. I am confident with this setup, with these individuals, these personnel, it's entirely possible we shouldn’t be able to progress rapidly to a competitive level and enjoy some success.”
To that end recruitment has been in top gear, with personnel now at more than 400 and planned to reach the objective of 600 members quickly. Alongside their existing facility at the UK base, the organization are in the process of building an HQ at the Fishers location in Indianapolis and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are building the plant to produce the power unit, planned for 2029 – until then they will use Ferrari power units – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne. It is a intricate structure, contrary to the direction in F1 for increased consolidation, and has led to the fresh organizational mindset to which the CTO referred.
Apollo Model
“It's closely based on the Apollo program,” remarked Lowdon ahead of the British GP in mid-season. “We have a clear-eyed view, we know how tough it is. The deadlines, they’re super, super, super short. OK, it's not a space expedition, but it can seem that way.”
So they have implemented, rather than the traditional management structure, a decentralized management akin to that of the space agency's, where there were a range of specialist groups all focusing on various components of the project at a different facilities.
“In a system where you follow a procedure where a challenge emerges and they raise it up to their supervisor, that manager communicates with a manager in another department, it goes back down the chain, it’s super slow,” explains Nick Chester. “Therefore we enable people to take charge. Eliminating hierarchical consent for all decisions is much smoother and quicker.”
What Lies Ahead
The efficacy of this nimble approach will be tested in the pressure of racing in 2026 and there is a significant degree on the line for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their reserve driver the young American Colton Herta
