A little more than twelve months previously at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally awarded the go-ahead as Formula One’s latest entry for 2026. Constructing the squad from the ground up has involved a intense pace of work that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo moon landing. As F1 converges on Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac understand time is getting tight.
The Countdown to Australia
At the season finale of the campaign to be staged in the US, with approximately a hundred days to go before they take to the track for the maiden outing in Melbourne at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a sisyphean task, they are conscious there will not be sufficient time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, joined the nascent operation in early 2023 soon after it was formed, when the squad were without even an approved entry. He has been at its heart from that point and has a amused expression when thinking about the experience.
“There might be a brief moment reflecting at what you’ve done and go: ‘Amazing, how impressive what we have built in under three years,’” he notes. “But then the next minute you think: ‘Yes, there is still a significant amount to do.’”
A Unique Opportunity
Nick Chester enjoyed success at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s title-winning campaigns of the mid-2000s and was in control of technical direction at the recently formed Mercedes electric racing team, but no previous experience has been quite like the task of launching the quintessentially American Cadillac marque, a manufacturer-backed entry sponsored by the owner, General Motors Corporation, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Creating an grand prix team from the ground up, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he says. “It's unparalleled. In an existing team you won't have the possibility to change organizational mindset.”
With each day that elapses focus are more focused on the approaching critical moment in Australia and expectations are being set realistically.
“You have to assume that any new team coming in is probably going to finish last but merely participating will be an accomplishment in itself,” the team principal stated earlier this year and while Chester shared this view he thought the squad had a point to prove as well.
“The first thing we want to show is that we belong on the grid,” he emphasizes. “In order that we show up and we perform competently. We want to show that we’re a proper team performing the right things on the race track. Once we have demonstrated that our credentials are solid, then we aim to demonstrate progression subsequently.”
Pilot Selection and Hiring Push
In August they contracted Sergio Pérez and Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a pair notable for their priceless expertise in performing at the leading positions in two top-tier teams, Red Bull and Mercedes-AMG, and Bottas reflected the attitude of determined optimism.
“Naturally, we’re realistic,” he commented. “We face a mountain of work to do, and it will likely be almost certainly a tough opening, because it is F1. But our goal isn't to remain at the rear. I am confident given this organization, with this team, this staff, there is every reason that we won't be able to progress rapidly to the front and enjoy some success.”
To realize that ambition hiring has been in overdrive, with staff now reaching in excess of 400 and scheduled to attain the objective of 600 members quickly. Complementing their existing facility at Silverstone, the team are in the phase of finishing an HQ at the Fishers location in Indy and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, where they are constructing the center to build the 2029 engine, scheduled for 2029 – in the meantime they will use Ferrari power units – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Germany. It is a sophisticated organization, different from the movement in Formula One for greater centralisation, and has prompted the innovative team culture to which the CTO referred.
Apollo Blueprint
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo program,” remarked Graeme Lowdon shortly before the British Grand Prix in July. “We’re realistic, we recognize how challenging it is. The deadlines, are extremely compressed. OK, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it can seem that way.”
So they have embraced, instead of the traditional management structure, a non-hierarchical approach comparable to that of Nasa’s, where there were a assortment of Apollo teams all working on different aspects of the program at a multiple sites.
“In a system where you follow a protocol where an issue arises and they report it to their team leader, that manager communicates with a leader in another department, it goes back down the chain, it’s super slow,” explains Chester. “So we empower staff to handle things directly. Moving away from management approval for everything is far more efficient and more rapid.”
Upcoming Challenges
The efficacy of this flexible methodology will be tested in the heat of competition when the season begins and there is a considerable amount riding on this for the sport, too. Cadillac have signed as their test driver the young Californian Colton Herta
