A little more than a full year in the past at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were ultimately granted the green light as F1's latest participant for 2026. Establishing the squad from scratch has involved a frenetic work rate that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo program. As Formula One descends on the Vegas strip this weekend, Cadillac understand the deadline is approaching.
The Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the final race of the season to be staged in the United States, with approximately 100 days to go before they take to the track for the first time in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a monumental challenge, they are cognizant there will never be adequate time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, came aboard the newly formed project in March 2023 soon after it was established, when the team were without even an approved entry. He has been at its center ever since and enjoys a wry smile when reflecting on the experience.
“There might be a short period thinking back at what the team has achieved and think: ‘Incredible, isn’t this fantastic what the team has created in less than three years,’” he notes. “Then the next minute you consider: ‘Well, we still have a great deal to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Opportunity
Nick Chester achieved victories at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s title-winning campaigns of 2005/2006 and was in command of technical development at the then-new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but nothing has truly matched the challenge of introducing the quintessentially American Cadillac name, a factory team backed by the corporate entity, General Motors Corporation, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Creating an Formula One team from nothing, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he observes. “There's nothing comparable. In an well-set team you rarely get the opportunity to transform cultural approach.”
With every day that elapses minds are increasingly concentrated on the looming moment of truth in Australia and goals are being handled.
“One must presume that a brand-new squad coming in is going to be last but just making it to the starting line will be an accomplishment in itself,” Lowdon stated this year and while Chester shared this view he thought the team had a statement to make as well.
“The first thing we intend to prove is that we deserve to be there,” he says. “In order that we turn up and we operate well. We want to show that we’re a proper team doing the right things on the circuit. When we have demonstrated that our credentials are solid, then we want to show progression after that.”
Pilot Selection and Team Building Drive
In the summer they recruited Sergio Perez and Valtteri as their drivers for 2026, a duo distinguished for their vast knowledge in performing at the front in two top-tier teams, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes, and the Finnish driver expressed the attitude of combative optimism.
“Naturally, we are pragmatic,” he commented. “There’s going to be a massive task to do, and it will likely be most likely a difficult start, because this is Formula One. But we’re not there to finish last. I believe with this structure, with this team, these personnel, there’s no reason why we can't manage to get relatively quickly up to the pace and achieve good results.”
To achieve that goal staff acquisition has been in full swing, with personnel now at in excess of 400 and planned to reach the goal of 600 rapidly. Alongside their current base at the UK base, the organization are in the midst of building an headquarters at Fishers in Indianapolis and there is the GM works in North Carolina, where they are building the center to manufacture the 2029 engine, set for 2029 – for now they will operate with Ferrari power units – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a intricate structure, at odds with the movement in the sport for more centralization, and has inspired the fresh organizational mindset to which the CTO alluded.
NASA Blueprint
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo program,” remarked the team principal just before the British Grand Prix in the summer. “We are pragmatic, we understand how tough it is. The schedules, are incredibly tight. Alright, it's not a space expedition, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have adopted, as opposed to the usual hierarchical system, a decentralized management similar to that of NASA's, where there were a variety of specialist groups all tackling different aspects of the mission across a multiple sites.
“When you must follow a procedure where a challenge emerges and they raise it up to their team leader, that leader talks to a manager at a different location, it is relayed back, it becomes inefficient,” says the CTO. “Therefore we enable people to handle things directly. Eliminating management approval for everything is far more efficient and faster.”
The Future
The effectiveness of this flexible strategy will be tested in the heat of competition next season and there is no little amount on the line for F1, too. Cadillac have signed as their test driver the young American Colton Herta
