Approximately twelve months ago at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last given the official approval as Formula One’s latest participant for the 2026 season. Constructing the team from nothing has involved a intense work rate that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo moon landing. As Formula One arrives on the Vegas strip this weekend, the team are aware the deadline is approaching.
The Race Against Time to Australia
At the season finale of the campaign to be staged in the United States, with around three months to go before they make their debut for the maiden outing in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a monumental task, they are conscious there will never be sufficient time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, became part of the embryonic team in the spring of 2023 not long after it was formed, when the organization were without even an official entry. He has been at its heart since then and enjoys a knowing grin when thinking about the ride.
“You might get a brief moment reflecting at what you have accomplished and say: ‘Amazing, how impressive what we’ve done in under three years,’” Chester states. “And then the very next instant you realize: ‘Well, there is still quite a lot to do.’”
An Unprecedented Challenge
Chester enjoyed success at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s victorious campaigns of 2005/2006 and was in command of technical development at the recently formed Mercedes Formula E team, but no other project has truly matched the mission of launching the all-American Cadillac brand, a works entry sponsored by the parent company, GM, into F1.
“Building an Formula One team from scratch, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” Chester remarks. “It's unparalleled. In an existing team you won't have the possibility to alter team culture.”
With each passing day that passes focus are sharper on the impending moment of truth in the Australian GP and expectations are being set realistically.
“You have to assume that a brand-new squad entering the sport is probably going to finish last but just making it to the starting line will be an accomplishment in itself,” Graeme Lowdon noted earlier this year and while Chester echoed this he thought the squad had a reputation to build as well.
“Our primary goal we aim to demonstrate is that we deserve to be there,” he says. “So that we arrive and we operate well. We aim to demonstrate that we are a serious contender executing the right things on the track. Once we prove that we’re really credible, then we aim to demonstrate forward movement subsequently.”
Driver Lineup and Team Building Push
In late summer they signed Checo Pérez and Bottas as their drivers for the 2026 season, a pair remarkable for their priceless expertise in competing at the leading positions in two top-tier teams, the Red Bull team and Mercedes-AMG, and Valtteri Bottas reflected the attitude of determined optimism.
“Of course, we are pragmatic,” Bottas stated. “We face a mountain of work to do, and we expect probably a tough opening, because it is F1. But we’re not there to remain at the rear. I am confident with this structure, with this team, this staff, it's entirely possible we won't be able to advance swiftly up to the pace and enjoy some success.”
To achieve that goal staff acquisition has been in overdrive, with employees now at over 400 and scheduled to attain the objective of 600 quickly. Complementing their present headquarters at the Silverstone circuit, the team are in the phase of completing an HQ at Fishers in Indy and there is the GM works in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are building the center to manufacture the power unit, planned for 2029 – in the meantime they will operate with power from Ferrari – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne. It is a complex organization, different from the movement in Formula One for greater centralisation, and has prompted the innovative team culture to which Nick Chester alluded.
NASA Blueprint
“It's closely based on the Apollo program,” stated Graeme Lowdon shortly before the Silverstone race in the summer. “We are pragmatic, we know how tough it is. The deadlines, are extremely compressed. Well, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have implemented, as opposed to the traditional management structure, a flat management structure comparable to that of the space agency's, where there were a range of Apollo teams all tackling different aspects of the program across a multiple sites.
“If you have to go through a procedure where an issue arises and they escalate it to their supervisor, that supervisor consults a manager in another department, it is relayed back, the process is very slow,” notes the CTO. “We give authority to people to take charge. Avoiding hierarchical consent for everything is so much cleaner and more rapid.”
The Future
The efficacy of this flexible methodology will be proven in the intensity of Grand Prix next season and there is a considerable amount at stake for Formula One, too. The Cadillac team have taken on as their test driver the young American Colton Herta
