Approximately one year previously at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last given the official approval as Formula One’s newest participant for 2026. Establishing the squad from scratch has required a frenetic pace of work that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo moon landing. As Formula One arrives on Vegas this weekend, Cadillac know the clock is ticking.
The Countdown to Australia
At the last event of the season to be staged in the United States, with approximately three months to go before they take to the track for the first time in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a sisyphean endeavor, they are aware there will not be adequate time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, came aboard the newly formed team in the spring of 2023 shortly after it was created, when the squad were without even an approved entry. He has been at its heart ever since and has a wry smile when thinking about the journey.
“You can have a short period looking back at what you’ve done and think: ‘Incredible, what an achievement what the team has created in a short three-year period,’” he says. “Then the next minute you realize: ‘Yeah, we’ve still got a significant amount to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Opportunity
Nick Chester enjoyed success at the Renault team in Alonso's championship-winning seasons of the mid-2000s and was in charge of technical direction at the recently formed Mercedes electric racing team, but no previous experience has been quite like the mission of bringing the all-American Cadillac marque, a works entry supported by the owner, General Motors, into F1.
“Building an Formula One team from nothing, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” Chester remarks. “There's nothing comparable. In an established team you rarely get the possibility to alter cultural approach.”
With each day that passes thoughts are sharper on the looming decisive point in Australia and goals are being set realistically.
“One must presume that a brand-new squad joining the grid is going to be last but simply getting on to the grid will be an accomplishment in itself,” Graeme Lowdon commented earlier this year and while Nick Chester agreed with this sentiment he thought the team had a statement to make as well.
“Our primary goal we aim to demonstrate is that we should be there,” he says. “In order that we show up and we operate well. We seek to prove that we’re a proper team executing the right things on the track. When we prove that our credentials are solid, then we aim to demonstrate forward movement after that.”
Racing Talent and Recruitment Drive
In late summer they recruited Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a duo distinguished for their invaluable experience in performing at the sharp end in two top-tier teams, Red Bull and Mercedes, and the Finnish driver reflected the mood of fighting spirit.
“Of course, we have a realistic outlook,” he said. “We face a huge amount of work to do, and we expect probably a difficult start, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we’re not there to finish last. I am confident with this structure, with this team, these personnel, it's entirely possible we shouldn’t be able to advance swiftly to a competitive level and taste victory.”
To that end recruitment has been in top gear, with staff now at more than 400 and intended to attain the target of 600 members rapidly. Alongside their current base at the Silverstone circuit, the team are in the process of building an HQ at Fishers, Indiana in Indy and there is the GM works in North Carolina, where they are constructing the plant to manufacture the new engine, scheduled for the 2029 season – for now they will run power from Ferrari – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a complex organisation, at odds with the movement in Formula One for increased consolidation, and has led to the new cultural approach to which Nick Chester referred to.
Space Mission Model
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo program,” stated the team principal just before the British Grand Prix in the summer. “We’re realistic, we recognize how challenging it is. The timelines, are incredibly tight. Alright, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have implemented, rather than the usual hierarchical system, a decentralized management akin to that of NASA's, where there were a assortment of project teams all tackling distinct elements of the program in a variety of locations.
“In a system where you follow a process where a challenge emerges and they escalate it to their manager, that supervisor talks to a supervisor in another department, it travels back down, it’s super slow,” explains the CTO. “Therefore we enable team members to handle things directly. Moving away from management approval for each action is far more efficient and more rapid.”
The Future
The effectiveness of this flexible strategy will be proven in the intensity of Grand Prix when the season begins and there is no little amount at stake for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their development driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta
