A little more than a full year previously at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last given the official approval as Formula One’s newest participant for the 2026 season. Constructing the organization from scratch has required a hectic work rate that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the NASA lunar mission. As F1 descends on Las Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac know the clock is ticking.
The Countdown to Australia
At the season finale of the championship to be staged in the US, with around 100 days to go before they hit the circuit for the first time in Australia at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a monumental task, they are cognizant there will not be enough hours in the day.
The CTO, Nick Chester, came aboard the nascent team in the spring of 2023 shortly after it was created, when the organization were without even an approved entry. He has been at its center since then and has a wry smile when considering the ride.
“There might be a short period reflecting at what the team has achieved and say: ‘Wow, how impressive what we’ve done in under three years,’” he notes. “Then the next minute you realize: ‘Yeah, there is still a great deal to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Opportunity
Nick Chester enjoyed success at Renault in Alonso's victorious years of the mid-2000s and was in command of technical direction at the then-new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no previous experience has quite compared with the task of introducing the all-American Cadillac brand, a factory team sponsored by the corporate entity, General Motors, into F1.
“Building an Formula One team from nothing, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he says. “It's unparalleled. In an existing team you rarely get the opportunity to transform team culture.”
With every day that passes thoughts are more focused on the impending moment of truth in Australia and goals are being managed.
“One must presume that any new team coming in is going to be last but simply getting on to the grid will be an accomplishment in itself,” Lowdon commented recently and while the CTO shared this view he believed the team had a statement to make as well.
“Our primary goal we intend to prove is that we should be there,” he emphasizes. “So that we show up and we operate well. We aim to demonstrate that this is a professional operation performing the right things on the circuit. After we prove that we’re really credible, then we want to show progression subsequently.”
Driver Lineup and Hiring Push
In late summer they contracted Sergio Perez and Bottas as their racers for 2026, a pair distinguished for their priceless expertise in operating at the front in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull and Mercedes, and the Finnish driver expressed the sentiment of fighting spirit.
“Naturally, we have a realistic outlook,” he commented. “There’s going to be a mountain of work to do, and we expect most likely a difficult start, because it is F1. But our goal isn't to remain at the rear. I am confident given this organization, with this group, these people, there is every reason that we can't manage to progress rapidly up to the pace and taste victory.”
To that end recruitment has been in top gear, with employees now up to over 400 and intended to attain the objective of 600 swiftly. In addition to their present headquarters at the UK base, the team are in the midst of finishing an main base at Fishers in Indy and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, where they are building the center to build the new engine, planned for 2029 – in the meantime they will use Ferrari power units – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a sophisticated organization, contrary to the movement in the sport for increased consolidation, and has led to the innovative team culture to which the CTO alluded.
Space Mission Inspiration
“It's closely based on the Apollo program,” stated the team principal shortly before the British Grand Prix in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we know how challenging it is. The timelines, are extremely compressed. Alright, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it can seem that way.”
So they have adopted, rather than the traditional management structure, a decentralized management comparable to that of NASA's, where there were a range of project teams all tackling distinct elements of the program in a multiple sites.
“In a system where you follow a process where someone has a problem and they escalate it to their manager, that leader talks to a supervisor in another department, it goes back down the chain, it’s super slow,” explains Nick Chester. “So we empower team members to take charge. Moving away from hierarchical consent for everything is much smoother and quicker.”
What Lies Ahead
The effectiveness of this flexible approach will be evaluated in the pressure of racing next season and there is a significant degree on the line for the sport, too. Cadillac have taken on as their development driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta
