Approximately one year in the past at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were ultimately given the official approval as the world of Formula One's most recent entry for the 2026 season. Constructing the team from the ground up has entailed a hectic pace of work that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo moon landing. As Formula One arrives on Vegas this race weekend, the team know the deadline is approaching.
The Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the last event of the championship to be hosted in the United States, with just over 100 days to go before they hit the circuit for the first time in Melbourne at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a sisyphean challenge, they are cognizant there will never be sufficient time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, joined the newly formed team in early 2023 soon after it was formed, when the team 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 might get five minutes thinking back at what the team has achieved and say: ‘Wow, isn’t this fantastic what we have built in under three years,’” Chester states. “But then the following moment you think: ‘Yeah, there is still a significant amount to do.’”
An Unprecedented Opportunity
Nick Chester had success at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s championship-winning seasons of 2005 and 2006 and was in control of engineering strategy at the new Mercedes Formula E team, but no previous experience has been quite like the mission of launching the iconic American Cadillac brand, a factory team backed by the owner, GM, into F1.
“Establishing an F1 team from the ground up, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he observes. “It's unparalleled. In an established team you don’t get the possibility to transform organizational mindset.”
With each day that elapses minds are more focused on the impending moment of truth in the Australian GP and targets are being handled.
“You have to assume that any incoming team entering the sport is probably going to finish last but merely participating will be an feat in itself,” Lowdon stated this year and while the CTO echoed this he thought the team had a statement to make as well.
“The first thing we aim to demonstrate is that we deserve to be there,” he emphasizes. “In order that we turn up and we function efficiently. We seek to prove that we are a serious contender executing the correct procedures on the circuit. When we have demonstrated that we’re really credible, then we want to show improvement subsequently.”
Racing Talent and Recruitment Push
In August they signed Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas as their drivers for the 2026 season, a tandem remarkable for their vast knowledge in performing at the sharp end in two top-tier teams, the Red Bull team and Mercedes, and Valtteri Bottas reflected the attitude of combative optimism.
“Of course, we have a realistic outlook,” he said. “We face a massive task to do, and it will likely be most likely a tough opening, because this is Formula One. But we’re not there to stay at the back. I believe with this setup, with these individuals, this staff, it's entirely possible we won't be able to progress rapidly to a competitive level and achieve good results.”
To that end recruitment has been in top gear, with employees now at more than 400 and planned to hit the goal of 600 members rapidly. Alongside their present headquarters at Silverstone, the team are in the phase of finishing an headquarters at Fishers, Indiana in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM works in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are developing the facility to build the new engine, scheduled for 2029 – in the meantime they will operate with power from Ferrari – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a sophisticated organisation, contrary to the trend in Formula One for more centralization, and has led to the new cultural approach to which Chester referred.
Space Mission Blueprint
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo project,” said the team principal ahead of the British Grand Prix in the summer. “We’re realistic, we know how difficult it is. The timelines, are extremely compressed. Well, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it can seem that way.”
So they have adopted, as opposed to the conventional chain of command, a decentralized management akin to that of Nasa’s, where there were a variety of specialist groups all tackling various components of the program at a variety of locations.
“If you have to go through a process where someone has a problem and they raise it up to their manager, that leader consults a supervisor somewhere else, it is relayed back, it becomes inefficient,” explains the CTO. “We give authority to team members to really get on with it. Moving away from hierarchical consent for everything is much smoother and more rapid.”
The Future
The success of this nimble methodology will be tested in the pressure of racing in 2026 and there is a significant degree riding on this for the sport, too. Cadillac have recruited as their test driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta
