A little more than one year previously at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were ultimately awarded the go-ahead as Formula One’s latest entry for 2026. Building the organization from nothing has involved a frenetic work rate that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo program. As Formula One converges on the Vegas strip this weekend, the team are aware the clock is ticking.
The Race Against Time to Australia
At the last event of the season to be staged in the US, with just over three months to go before they make their debut for the inaugural time in Australia at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a never-ending task, they are conscious there will never be sufficient time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, came aboard the embryonic project in the spring of 2023 shortly after it was established, when the organization were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its center since then and enjoys a amused expression when thinking about the journey.
“You might get a brief moment looking back at what you’ve done and say: ‘Incredible, how impressive what the team has created in less than three years,’” Chester states. “But then the following moment you realize: ‘Well, there is still a significant amount to do.’”
An Unprecedented Challenge
Nick Chester achieved victories at Renault in the driver Fernando Alonso's championship-winning campaigns of 2005/2006 and was in charge of technical development at the recently formed Mercedes electric racing team, but nothing has quite compared with the mission of introducing the all-American Cadillac brand, a manufacturer-backed entry sponsored by the parent company, GM, into Formula One.
“Building an grand prix team from scratch, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” Chester remarks. “It's unparalleled. In an established team you don’t get the opportunity to alter team culture.”
With every day that goes by minds are sharper on the looming moment of truth in the Australian GP and goals are being set realistically.
“You have to assume that any incoming team entering the sport is probably going to finish last but merely participating will be an achievement in itself,” the team principal noted recently and while the CTO shared this view he thought the team had a reputation to build as well.
“The first thing we aim to demonstrate is that we should be there,” Chester explains. “So we show up and we perform competently. We aim to demonstrate that this is a professional operation executing the correct procedures on the track. Once we’ve shown that we are a legitimate team, then we aim to demonstrate progression from there on.”
Pilot Selection and Team Building Effort
In late summer they signed Sergio Pérez and Bottas as their racers for 2026, a duo distinguished for their vast knowledge in operating at the sharp end in two top-tier teams, the Red Bull team and the Mercedes team, and Bottas echoed the attitude of combative optimism.
“Certainly, we’re realistic,” Bottas stated. “We have a huge amount of work to do, and it will likely be most likely a challenging beginning, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we’re not there to finish last. I am confident given this organization, with this team, these personnel, it's entirely possible we won't be able to get relatively quickly to a competitive level and achieve good results.”
To that end hiring has been in top gear, with staff now at over 400 and scheduled to attain the target of 600 rapidly. Alongside their current base at the UK base, the squad are in the midst of building an headquarters at Fishers, Indiana in Indianapolis and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are building the facility to manufacture the new engine, planned for 2029 – for now they will operate with power from Ferrari – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne. It is a sophisticated organization, contrary to the direction in F1 for increased consolidation, and has inspired the innovative team culture to which Chester alluded.
Apollo Model
“It’s highly modelled on the NASA moon mission,” stated Graeme Lowdon shortly before the Silverstone race in mid-season. “We’re realistic, we know how difficult it is. The timelines, they’re super, super, super short. OK, we aren't launching a lunar mission, 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 the space agency's, where there were a variety of project teams all working on various components of the mission across a different facilities.
“When you must follow a protocol where a challenge emerges and they escalate it to their supervisor, that manager talks to a manager somewhere else, it travels back down, the process is very slow,” notes Chester. “So we empower people to really get on with it. Moving away from hierarchical consent for all decisions is far more efficient and more rapid.”
What Lies Ahead
The success of this flexible approach will be proven in the heat of competition in 2026 and there is no little amount riding on this for F1, too. Cadillac have recruited as their development driver the young American Colton Herta
