Just over a full year in the past at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were at last granted the go-ahead as F1's latest entrant for the 2026 season. Constructing the organization from nothing has required a frenetic work rate that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo program. As the sport converges on Las Vegas this weekend, Cadillac are aware time is getting tight.
The Race Against Time to Australia
At the season finale of the season to be held in the US, with approximately 100 days to go before they make their debut for the maiden outing in Australia at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a monumental task, they are conscious there will not be sufficient time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, came aboard the newly formed operation in the spring of 2023 not long after it was created, when the squad were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its center from that point and enjoys a wry smile when reflecting on the ride.
“You might get a brief moment reflecting at what you have accomplished and think: ‘Incredible, how impressive what we’ve done in less than three years,’” he says. “Then the following moment you consider: ‘Yeah, there is still a significant amount to do.’”
An Unprecedented Task
The CTO achieved victories at Renault in Alonso's championship-winning years of the mid-2000s and was in control of technical direction at the then-new Mercedes electric racing team, but nothing has truly matched the mission of introducing the quintessentially American Cadillac brand, a manufacturer-backed entry backed by the parent company, General Motors, into Formula One.
“Creating an F1 team from scratch, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he observes. “There's nothing comparable. In an established team you don’t get the possibility to alter organizational mindset.”
With every day that goes by focus are more focused on the impending moment of truth in Australia and targets are being set realistically.
“One must presume that any incoming team entering the sport is going to be last but simply getting on to the grid will be an accomplishment in itself,” Graeme Lowdon stated recently and while the CTO agreed with this sentiment he thought the squad had a point to prove as well.
“The first thing we aim to demonstrate is that we belong on the grid,” he says. “So we show up and we operate well. We seek to prove that we’re a proper team performing the right things on the track. After we have demonstrated that we’re really credible, then we want to show improvement after that.”
Driver Lineup and Team Building Drive
In the summer they signed Sergio Perez and Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a tandem distinguished for their vast knowledge in operating at the front in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull and the Mercedes team, and Bottas reflected the attitude of determined optimism.
“Naturally, we have a realistic outlook,” he said. “We face a massive task to do, and it’s going to be probably a tough opening, 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 these individuals, these people, it's entirely possible we can't manage to advance swiftly to a competitive level and enjoy some success.”
To that end hiring has been in top gear, with staff now reaching over 400 and intended to reach the target of six hundred swiftly. Alongside their existing facility at the UK base, the squad are in the process of finishing an HQ at Fishers, Indiana in Indianapolis and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, where they are developing the facility to produce the power unit, planned for the 2029 season – in the meantime they will operate with Ferrari engines – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a intricate structure, different from the direction in the sport for greater centralisation, and has prompted the innovative team culture to which the CTO alluded.
Apollo Inspiration
“It's closely based on the Apollo project,” remarked the team principal shortly before the British Grand Prix in the summer. “We’re realistic, we recognize how challenging it is. The deadlines, they’re super, super, super short. Alright, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have embraced, rather than the traditional management structure, a decentralized management akin to that of NASA's, where there were a assortment of Apollo teams all tackling different aspects of the program in a variety of locations.
“If you have to go through a procedure where an issue arises and they raise it up to their team leader, that manager talks to a supervisor in another department, it is relayed back, it becomes inefficient,” explains Chester. “Therefore we enable people to take charge. Moving away from management approval for everything is so much cleaner and more rapid.”
What Lies Ahead
The efficacy of this nimble approach will be tested in the heat of competition next season and there is a considerable amount riding on this for the sport, too. Cadillac have recruited as their reserve driver the emerging American Colton Herta
