Approximately a full year in the past at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last granted the green light as the world of Formula One's newest entry for 2026. Establishing the team from the ground up has involved a intense pace of work that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo moon landing. As Formula One arrives on the Vegas strip this race weekend, Cadillac are aware the deadline is approaching.
The Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the final race of the season to be hosted in the United States, with just over a hundred days to go before they hit the circuit for the inaugural time in Melbourne 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 CTO, Nick Chester, joined the nascent operation in early 2023 not long after it was created, when the squad were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its heart since then and gets a amused expression when thinking about the ride.
“You might get five minutes reflecting at what you’ve done and think: ‘Wow, how impressive what we have built in under three years,’” he says. “But then the very next instant you realize: ‘Yeah, we’ve still got a great deal to do.’”
An Unprecedented Task
Chester had success at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s title-winning years of 2005/2006 and was in command of technical development at the recently formed Mercedes Formula E team, but no previous experience has been quite like the mission of introducing the iconic American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry sponsored by the corporate entity, General Motors, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Building an F1 team from nothing, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he observes. “There's nothing comparable. In an well-set team you rarely get the possibility to change cultural approach.”
With each day that goes by focus are increasingly concentrated on the approaching decisive point in Australia and targets are being handled.
“It's reasonable to expect that any new team entering the sport is likely to start at the back but simply getting on to the grid will be an feat in itself,” Lowdon stated this year and while Nick Chester agreed with this sentiment he believed the team had a point to prove as well.
“The initial objective we aim to demonstrate is that we belong on the grid,” he says. “So that we show up and we function efficiently. We aim to demonstrate that we are a serious contender doing the right things on the track. Once we’ve shown that we’re really credible, then we want to show progression from there on.”
Pilot Selection and Team Building Effort
In late summer they signed Sergio Perez and Bottas as their pilots for the 2026 season, a tandem distinguished for their invaluable experience in competing at the sharp end in two championship-winning squads, the Red Bull team and Mercedes, and the Finnish driver expressed the mood of combative optimism.
“Naturally, we have a realistic outlook,” he commented. “We have a massive task to do, and it will likely be most likely a tough opening, because this is Formula One. But we’re not there to finish last. I believe with this setup, with this group, this staff, it's entirely possible we shouldn’t be able to progress rapidly to a competitive level and enjoy some success.”
To that end recruitment has been in full swing, with staff now up to in excess of 400 and intended to reach the target of six hundred swiftly. Complementing their current base at the Silverstone circuit, the organization are in the process of completing an HQ at Fishers, Indiana in Indianapolis and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, where they are developing the facility to produce the new engine, scheduled for 2029 – until then they will run power from Ferrari – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne, Germany. It is a intricate organisation, contrary to the direction in Formula One for greater centralisation, and has led to the new cultural approach to which the CTO referred.
Apollo Model
“It's closely based on the NASA moon mission,” said Graeme Lowdon ahead of the British GP in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we know how challenging it is. The deadlines, are incredibly tight. Alright, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it can seem that way.”
So they have implemented, as opposed to the conventional chain of command, a non-hierarchical approach similar to that of NASA's, where there were a variety of specialist groups all tackling distinct elements of the mission across a variety of locations.
“In a system where you follow a process where someone has a problem and they report it to their team leader, that leader consults a supervisor somewhere else, it is relayed back, it becomes inefficient,” notes the CTO. “So we empower team members to take charge. Moving away from hierarchical consent for all decisions is so much cleaner and quicker.”
Upcoming Challenges
The success of this nimble methodology will be evaluated in the heat of competition next season and there is a considerable amount on the line for the sport, too. Cadillac have recruited as their reserve driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta
