Just over twelve months in the past at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally granted the go-ahead as the world of Formula One's latest participant for 2026. Constructing the squad from the ground up has required a frenetic pace of work that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo program. As Formula One converges on Vegas this weekend, Cadillac are aware the clock is ticking.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the season finale of the championship to be staged in the US, with approximately three months to go before they take to the track for the first time in Australia at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a never-ending endeavor, they are aware there will not be adequate time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, joined the nascent operation in early 2023 soon after it was established, when the squad were without even an approved entry. He has been at its core ever since and has a wry smile when reflecting on the experience.
“There might be a brief moment looking back at what you have accomplished and go: ‘Incredible, how impressive what we’ve done in a short three-year period,’” Chester states. “And then the very next instant you consider: ‘Yeah, there is still quite a lot to do.’”
A Unique Challenge
Chester had success at the Renault team in the driver Fernando Alonso's title-winning years of 2005 and 2006 and was in command of technical direction at the recently formed Mercedes Formula E team, but no previous experience has truly matched the mission of launching the iconic American Cadillac brand, a factory team supported by the parent company, General Motors Corporation, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Creating an grand prix team from scratch, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he observes. “There's nothing comparable. In an existing team you rarely get the possibility to alter cultural approach.”
With every day that goes by minds are increasingly concentrated on the impending critical moment in Melbourne and expectations are being handled.
“You have to assume that any new team joining the grid is likely to start at the back but merely participating will be an accomplishment in itself,” the team principal stated earlier this year and while Chester echoed this he felt the team had a statement to make as well.
“The initial objective we aim to demonstrate is that we should be there,” Chester explains. “So that we arrive and we function efficiently. We want to show that we are a serious contender executing the correct procedures on the circuit. When we have demonstrated that our credentials are solid, then we will focus on forward movement subsequently.”
Racing Talent and Hiring Effort
In late summer they signed Checo Pérez and Valtteri as their drivers for 2026, a pair distinguished for their priceless expertise in performing at the leading positions in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull Racing and the Mercedes team, and Bottas expressed the sentiment of fighting spirit.
“Naturally, we have a realistic outlook,” he said. “We face a mountain of work to do, and we expect almost certainly a challenging beginning, because it is F1. But we’re not there to remain at the rear. In my view with this setup, with this team, this staff, it's entirely possible we won't be able to progress rapidly to the front and achieve good results.”
To realize that ambition recruitment has been in full swing, with staff now up to over 400 and scheduled to attain the objective of six hundred swiftly. Complementing their present headquarters at the UK base, the organization are in the process of building an headquarters at Fishers in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM plant in North Carolina, where they are constructing the facility to manufacture the new engine, set for 2029 – in the meantime they will run power from Ferrari – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Germany. It is a complex organisation, at odds with the trend in Formula One for more centralization, and has prompted the new cultural approach to which Chester referred to.
NASA Inspiration
“It’s highly modelled on the NASA moon mission,” remarked Graeme Lowdon ahead of the Silverstone race in mid-season. “We have a clear-eyed view, we know how tough it is. The deadlines, they’re super, super, super short. Well, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it can seem that way.”
So they have adopted, instead of the usual hierarchical system, a non-hierarchical approach similar to that of NASA's, where there were a range of Apollo teams all working on various components of the project at a variety of locations.
“When you must follow a process where someone has a problem and they report it to their supervisor, that supervisor talks to a leader at a different location, it is relayed back, it’s super slow,” explains Nick Chester. “We give authority to people to really get on with it. Moving away from management approval for all decisions is much smoother and more rapid.”
Upcoming Challenges
The effectiveness of this flexible methodology will be proven in the pressure of racing in 2026 and there is a significant degree at stake for Formula One, too. Cadillac have signed as their test driver the young American Colton Herta
