Just over twelve months ago at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally granted the official approval as F1's most recent entrant for the 2026 season. Building the organization from nothing has involved a frenetic operating tempo that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the NASA lunar mission. As the sport converges on Las Vegas this weekend, the team know time is getting tight.
The Race Against Time to Australia
At the final race of the season to be hosted in the America, with approximately 100 days to go before they hit the circuit for the first time in Melbourne at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a sisyphean challenge, they are cognizant there will not be adequate time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, joined the embryonic operation in March 2023 soon after it was created, when the team were without even an approved entry. He has been at its center ever since and has a wry smile when reflecting on the ride.
“There might be a brief moment reflecting at what you’ve done and go: ‘Amazing, how impressive what the team has created in a short three-year period,’” he says. “Then the next minute you think: ‘Yes, there is still quite a lot to do.’”
An Unprecedented Opportunity
The CTO achieved victories at Renault in Alonso's championship-winning campaigns of 2005 and 2006 and was in control of engineering strategy at the then-new Mercedes Formula E team, but no other project has truly matched the task of launching the iconic American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the parent company, General Motors Corporation, into Formula One.
“Creating 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 well-set team you rarely get the possibility to transform cultural approach.”
With each passing day that elapses thoughts are more focused on the impending moment of truth in Melbourne and goals are being set realistically.
“You have to assume that any incoming team entering the sport is probably going to finish last but simply getting on to the grid will be an accomplishment in itself,” Lowdon commented this year and while the CTO echoed this he felt the squad had a point to prove as well.
“The initial objective we want to show is that we deserve to be there,” Chester explains. “So we show up and we perform competently. We aim to demonstrate that this is a professional operation executing the proper actions on the circuit. Once we prove that we are a legitimate team, then we want to show forward movement from there on.”
Driver Lineup and Team Building Drive
In late summer they signed Checo Pérez and Bottas as their pilots for 2026, a pair remarkable for their priceless expertise in competing at the sharp end in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull and Mercedes, and the Finnish driver expressed the mood of combative optimism.
“Of course, we have a realistic outlook,” he said. “We have a mountain of work to do, and it will likely be almost certainly a tough opening, because this is Formula One. But we’re not there to remain at the rear. In my view with this structure, with this group, these people, there’s no reason why we can't manage to advance swiftly up to the pace and enjoy some success.”
To achieve that goal recruitment has been in full swing, with staff now up to over 400 and scheduled to reach the target of 600 members rapidly. In addition to their existing facility at the Silverstone circuit, the organization are in the midst of completing an headquarters at Fishers in Indy and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, where they are constructing the center to build the new engine, set for the 2029 season – for now they will run Ferrari engines – and the aerodynamic facility in Germany. It is a complex organization, contrary to the trend in Formula One for increased consolidation, and has prompted the fresh organizational mindset to which Nick Chester referred.
Apollo Model
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo program,” remarked Lowdon ahead of the British GP in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we understand how difficult it is. The deadlines, are incredibly tight. Alright, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have implemented, rather than the traditional management structure, a decentralized management akin to that of Nasa’s, where there were a range of Apollo teams all working on distinct elements of the project in a multiple sites.
“When you must follow a protocol where an issue arises and they report it to their supervisor, that leader talks to a leader in another department, it travels back down, the process is very slow,” notes Nick Chester. “So we empower people to handle things directly. Moving away from hierarchical consent for each action is much smoother and faster.”
What Lies Ahead
The effectiveness of this flexible methodology will be tested in the pressure of racing next season and there is no little amount on the line for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their reserve driver the young American Colton Herta
