A little more than one year in the past at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally awarded the go-ahead as the world of Formula One's most recent entrant for 2026. Constructing the team from nothing has required a intense work rate that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the NASA lunar mission. As F1 converges on Las Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac are aware the deadline is approaching.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the season finale of the championship to be hosted in the America, with around three months to go before they take to the track for the maiden outing in Melbourne at the first race of 2026, the Cadillac F1 project have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a monumental challenge, they are aware there will not be adequate time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, joined the newly formed project in the spring of 2023 shortly after it was formed, when the organization were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its core from that point and gets a knowing grin when thinking about the ride.
“You can have a short period reflecting at what you have accomplished and think: ‘Incredible, what an achievement what we have built in under three years,’” he notes. “Then the very next instant you think: ‘Yes, there is still a great deal to do.’”
An Unprecedented Task
Nick Chester achieved victories at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s championship-winning campaigns of 2005/2006 and was in charge of technical direction at the recently formed Mercedes electric racing team, but no other project has truly matched the mission of introducing the iconic American Cadillac brand, a works entry sponsored by the owner, GM, into F1.
“Building an grand prix team from nothing, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” Chester remarks. “There's nothing comparable. In an existing team you don’t get the possibility to transform organizational mindset.”
With every day that elapses focus are sharper on the looming decisive point in Australia and expectations are being managed.
“It's reasonable to expect that any new team joining the grid is likely to start at the back but merely participating will be an accomplishment in itself,” the team principal noted earlier this year and while the CTO echoed this he felt the organization had a statement to make as well.
“Our primary goal we want to show is that we belong on the grid,” he emphasizes. “So that we turn up and we operate well. We want to show that we’re a proper team doing the correct procedures on the race track. Once we have demonstrated that we are a legitimate team, then we want to show forward movement after that.”
Racing Talent and Recruitment Effort
In August they signed Sergio Perez and Valtteri as their racers for 2026, a tandem notable for their vast knowledge in competing at the sharp end in two top-tier teams, Red Bull and Mercedes, and the Finnish driver reflected the sentiment of fighting spirit.
“Naturally, we are pragmatic,” he commented. “There’s going to be a massive task to do, and it will likely be probably a difficult start, because it is F1. But our goal isn't to finish last. I believe with this setup, with this group, these people, there is every reason that we shouldn’t be able to progress rapidly up to the pace and enjoy some success.”
To realize that ambition recruitment has been in overdrive, with personnel now at over 400 and intended to hit the goal of six hundred rapidly. In addition to their existing facility at Silverstone, the organization are in the process of completing an HQ at Fishers in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM works in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are building the center to build the new engine, set for 2029 – until then they will operate with power from Ferrari – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a complex organisation, at odds with the direction in the sport for more centralization, and has inspired the new cultural approach to which the CTO alluded.
Apollo Model
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo project,” remarked Graeme Lowdon ahead of the British GP in the summer. “We have a clear-eyed view, we recognize how challenging it is. The deadlines, they’re super, super, super short. OK, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have adopted, instead of the usual hierarchical system, a flat management structure comparable to that of NASA's, where there were a variety of specialist groups all focusing on distinct elements of the project at a multiple sites.
“In a system where you follow a protocol where a challenge emerges and they report it to their manager, that leader consults a supervisor at a different location, it travels back down, the process is very slow,” explains Nick Chester. “Therefore we enable team members to handle things directly. Moving away from hierarchical consent for everything is far more efficient and faster.”
What Lies Ahead
The effectiveness of this flexible approach will be proven in the heat of competition next season and there is no little amount on the line for F1, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their development driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
