Approximately a full year in the past at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally awarded the official approval as Formula One’s newest entry for 2026. Constructing the squad from nothing has entailed a intense pace of work that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo program. As the sport converges on Las Vegas this weekend, Cadillac are aware the deadline is approaching.
The Tight Timeline to Melbourne
At the last event of the season to be staged in the United States, with just over 100 days to go before they make their debut for the maiden outing in Melbourne at the first race of 2026, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a monumental endeavor, they are cognizant there will never be enough hours in the day.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, joined the embryonic project in early 2023 soon after it was formed, when the organization were without even an official entry. He has been at its center since then and gets a knowing grin when thinking about the ride.
“You might get a brief moment looking back at what you have accomplished and go: ‘Incredible, how impressive what we have built in a short three-year period,’” he says. “Then the following moment you realize: ‘Well, we’ve still got quite a lot to do.’”
A Unique Task
The CTO enjoyed success at the Renault team in Alonso's championship-winning seasons of 2005/2006 and was in control of technical direction at the new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no other project has quite compared with the mission of launching the all-American Cadillac marque, a manufacturer-backed entry backed by the corporate entity, General Motors Corporation, into F1.
“Building an F1 team from scratch, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he says. “There's nothing comparable. In an established team you don’t get the possibility to transform cultural approach.”
With each day that goes by thoughts are more focused on the looming critical moment in Melbourne and goals are being handled.
“One must presume that any new team entering the sport is probably going to finish last but simply getting on to the grid will be an accomplishment in itself,” the team principal stated earlier this year and while Chester agreed with this sentiment he believed 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 turn up and we function efficiently. We aim to demonstrate that this is a professional operation doing the correct procedures on the circuit. Once we have demonstrated that our credentials are solid, then we want to show improvement from there on.”
Pilot Selection and Recruitment Drive
In the summer they recruited Sergio Pérez and Bottas as their pilots for the 2026 season, a duo distinguished for their vast knowledge in competing at the front in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes-AMG, and the Finnish driver echoed the sentiment of combative optimism.
“Naturally, we have a realistic outlook,” he commented. “We face a mountain of work to do, and we expect almost certainly a tough opening, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we’re not there to stay at the back. I am confident with this setup, with this team, this staff, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to progress rapidly to a competitive level and enjoy some success.”
To that end staff acquisition has been in top gear, with personnel now at over 400 and planned to attain the objective of six hundred rapidly. Complementing their existing facility at the Silverstone circuit, the organization are in the phase of finishing an headquarters at Fishers in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM works in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are building the plant to produce the power unit, set for 2029 – until then they will operate with Ferrari power units – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a complex structure, contrary to the trend in F1 for greater centralisation, and has prompted the fresh organizational mindset to which the CTO referred to.
Apollo Model
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo project,” remarked Lowdon ahead of the British GP in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we understand how difficult it is. The timelines, are incredibly tight. OK, it's not a space expedition, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have adopted, instead of the conventional chain of command, a non-hierarchical approach comparable to that of Nasa’s, where there were a assortment of Apollo teams all working on different aspects of the project at a variety of locations.
“If you have to go through a protocol where a challenge emerges and they raise it up to their manager, that manager communicates with a manager at a different location, it is relayed back, the process is very slow,” notes Nick Chester. “So we empower staff to really get on with it. Moving away from managerial sign-off for everything is so much cleaner and faster.”
The Future
The efficacy of this nimble approach will be proven in the pressure of racing in 2026 and there is a significant degree at stake for Formula One, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their test driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta
