A little more than twelve months in the past at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were ultimately awarded the official approval as the world of Formula One's latest participant for 2026. Constructing the organization from nothing has entailed a hectic operating tempo that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo program. As Formula One arrives on the Vegas strip this race weekend, Cadillac understand time is getting tight.
The Race Against Time to Australia
At the final race of the championship to be held in the US, with just over three months to go before they hit the circuit for the first time in Melbourne at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a never-ending task, they are aware there will not be enough hours in the day.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, joined the nascent project in March 2023 not long after it was formed, when the team were without even an official entry. He has been at its heart since then and enjoys a wry smile when considering the ride.
“You can have five minutes reflecting at what the team has achieved and go: ‘Wow, what an achievement what we have built in a short three-year period,’” Chester states. “But then the next minute you consider: ‘Yes, we still have quite a lot to do.’”
An Unprecedented Challenge
Chester enjoyed success at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s title-winning campaigns of the mid-2000s and was in command of technical development at the new Mercedes Formula E team, but no previous experience has quite compared with the challenge of launching the all-American Cadillac name, a works entry supported by the parent company, GM, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Building an F1 team from the ground up, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he says. “There's nothing comparable. In an well-set team you won't have the chance to change organizational mindset.”
With every day that elapses focus are more focused on the approaching decisive point in the Australian GP and expectations are being managed.
“One must presume that any incoming team entering the sport is probably going to finish last but simply getting on to the grid will be an accomplishment in itself,” Lowdon commented this year and while Chester agreed with this sentiment he believed the squad had a reputation to build as well.
“Our primary goal we want to show is that we should be there,” he emphasizes. “So we turn up and we operate well. We seek to prove that we are a serious contender doing the proper actions on the race track. After we prove that we’re really credible, then we will focus on forward movement from there on.”
Driver Lineup and Recruitment Drive
In the summer they contracted Checo Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their racers for 2026, a tandem remarkable for their vast knowledge in operating at the front in two of the sport’s biggest teams, the Red Bull team and Mercedes, and Valtteri Bottas reflected the attitude of combative optimism.
“Naturally, we have a realistic outlook,” he commented. “We have a huge amount of work to do, and it’s going to be almost certainly a tough opening, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we’re not there to remain at the rear. I believe with this setup, with this group, these people, there is every reason that we won't be able to advance swiftly to a competitive level and enjoy some success.”
To realize that ambition hiring has been in full swing, with personnel now at more than 400 and scheduled to reach the target of six hundred quickly. Alongside their existing facility at the Silverstone circuit, the squad are in the process of building an HQ at the Fishers location in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are constructing the plant to manufacture the 2029 engine, scheduled for 2029 – until then they will use Ferrari power units – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Germany. It is a sophisticated organisation, contrary to the movement in Formula One for increased consolidation, and has inspired the new cultural approach to which the CTO referred.
Space Mission Model
“It's closely based on the Apollo program,” stated the team principal shortly before the British GP in mid-season. “We are pragmatic, we know how challenging it is. The schedules, are incredibly tight. Well, it's not a space expedition, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have implemented, instead of the usual hierarchical system, a flat management structure similar to that of the space agency's, where there were a range of project teams all working on various components of the project across a multiple sites.
“In a system where you follow a procedure where a challenge emerges and they report it to their supervisor, that supervisor consults a leader at a different location, it goes back down the chain, it’s super slow,” notes Nick Chester. “So we empower team members to take charge. Moving away from management approval for everything is much smoother and more rapid.”
Upcoming Challenges
The success of this nimble methodology will be tested in the heat of competition when the season begins and there is a significant degree at stake for Formula One, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their test driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
