A little more than twelve months previously at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last awarded the go-ahead as Formula One’s most recent entry for the 2026 season. Constructing the squad from the ground up has required a frenetic work rate that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the NASA lunar mission. As F1 arrives on the Vegas strip this race weekend, the team know time is getting tight.
The Countdown to Australia
At the final race of the season to be staged in the US, with around a hundred days to go before they take to the track for the inaugural time in Melbourne at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a sisyphean endeavor, they are cognizant there will not be sufficient time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, became part of the newly formed operation in early 2023 soon after it was created, when the squad were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its core from that point and has a amused expression when thinking about the ride.
“There might be five minutes reflecting at what you have accomplished and go: ‘Wow, what an achievement what we have built in a short three-year period,’” he notes. “But then the very next instant you consider: ‘Yeah, we’ve still got quite a lot to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Challenge
Nick Chester had success at the Renault team in the driver Fernando Alonso's title-winning years of 2005/2006 and was in command of technical direction at the new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no previous experience has truly matched the challenge of launching the all-American Cadillac marque, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the owner, GM, into F1.
“Creating an Formula One team from scratch, 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 opportunity to change cultural approach.”
With every day that elapses minds are increasingly concentrated on the impending moment of truth in Melbourne and targets are being set realistically.
“One must presume that any incoming team entering the sport is likely to start at the back but just making it to the starting line will be an feat in itself,” Lowdon noted earlier this year and while the CTO echoed this he felt the organization had a statement to make as well.
“The initial objective we aim to demonstrate is that we belong on the grid,” he says. “So we arrive and we operate well. We aim to demonstrate that we are a serious contender executing the right things on the track. After we’ve shown that we’re really credible, then we will focus on progression after that.”
Racing Talent and Hiring Effort
In August they signed Checo Pérez and Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a duo distinguished for their vast knowledge in competing at the front in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull and the Mercedes team, and Valtteri Bottas reflected the sentiment of combative optimism.
“Certainly, we are pragmatic,” he said. “We face a huge amount of work to do, and it will likely be most likely a challenging beginning, because it is F1. But our goal isn't to finish last. I believe given this organization, with this team, these personnel, it's entirely possible we shouldn’t be able to progress rapidly to the front and enjoy some success.”
To that end staff acquisition has been in full swing, with employees now up to over 400 and scheduled to attain the objective of 600 members rapidly. Complementing their existing facility at the UK base, the team are in the midst of completing an HQ at Fishers, Indiana in Indy and there is the GM works in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are building the center to manufacture the 2029 engine, planned for 2029 – in the meantime they will use Ferrari power units – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a complex organisation, at odds with the trend in the sport for more centralization, and has led to the fresh organizational mindset to which the CTO referred.
Space Mission Inspiration
“It's closely based on the Apollo program,” remarked Graeme Lowdon just before the British GP in July. “We are pragmatic, we recognize how difficult it is. The schedules, they’re super, super, super short. Alright, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it can seem that way.”
So they have adopted, as opposed to the usual hierarchical system, a flat management structure comparable to that of NASA's, where there were a variety of specialist groups all focusing on distinct elements of the project across a different facilities.
“When you must follow a process where a challenge emerges and they escalate it to their manager, that supervisor communicates with a leader in another department, it travels back down, it becomes inefficient,” notes Nick Chester. “We give authority to staff to take charge. Moving away from managerial sign-off for each action is much smoother and faster.”
Upcoming Challenges
The effectiveness of this nimble methodology will be evaluated in the intensity of Grand Prix next season and there is a significant degree riding on this for the sport, too. Cadillac have signed as their development driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta
