A little more than a full year previously at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last awarded the official approval as Formula One’s most recent entry for the 2026 season. Building the organization from nothing has involved a intense work rate that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo moon landing. As Formula One arrives on Vegas this weekend, Cadillac understand the clock is ticking.
The Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the final race of the championship to be held in the United States, with just over 100 days to go before they hit the circuit for the inaugural time in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a never-ending challenge, they are conscious there will not be enough hours in the day.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, became part of the newly formed operation in early 2023 shortly after it was created, when the squad were without even an approved entry. He has been at its heart from that point and enjoys a knowing grin when thinking about the experience.
“You might get five minutes reflecting at what the team has achieved and say: ‘Wow, how impressive what we have built in less than three years,’” he says. “Then the following moment you think: ‘Well, there is still a significant amount to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Task
The CTO achieved victories at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s championship-winning seasons of 2005/2006 and was in charge of technical development at the then-new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but nothing has been quite like the mission of introducing the iconic American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the owner, GM, into F1.
“Building an Formula One team from nothing, 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 change cultural approach.”
With each day that goes by focus are more focused on the impending critical moment in Australia and targets are being handled.
“You have to assume that a brand-new squad coming in is going to be last but simply getting on to the grid will be an accomplishment in itself,” the team principal commented this year and while Chester agreed with this sentiment he felt the squad had a reputation to build as well.
“The initial objective we aim to demonstrate is that we should be there,” he emphasizes. “So that we arrive and we perform competently. We seek to prove that we’re a proper team performing the right things on the circuit. Once we’ve shown that we’re really credible, then we want to show improvement subsequently.”
Racing Talent and Recruitment Push
In August they contracted Sergio Pérez and Valtteri as their pilots for 2026, a pair notable for their invaluable experience in performing at the sharp end in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes, and the Finnish driver expressed the sentiment of fighting spirit.
“Naturally, we are pragmatic,” Bottas stated. “There’s going to be a mountain of work to do, and we expect almost certainly a difficult start, because this is Formula One. But we’re not there to remain at the rear. In my view with this setup, with this group, these people, there’s no reason why we won't be able to progress rapidly to the front and taste victory.”
To that end recruitment has been in top gear, with personnel now at in excess of 400 and planned to hit the goal of 600 quickly. Alongside their existing facility at the Silverstone circuit, the squad are in the process of finishing an headquarters at Fishers in Indy and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are constructing the facility to manufacture the 2029 engine, planned for 2029 – for now they will use power from Ferrari – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne, Germany. It is a intricate organisation, at odds with the trend in the sport for greater centralisation, and has inspired the innovative team culture to which Nick Chester alluded.
Apollo Inspiration
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo project,” remarked Lowdon shortly before the British Grand Prix in the summer. “We’re realistic, we understand how tough it is. The schedules, are incredibly tight. Alright, it's not a space expedition, but it can seem that way.”
So they have embraced, rather than the traditional management structure, a decentralized management similar to that of the space agency's, where there were a assortment of project teams all focusing on various components of the project in a variety of locations.
“If you have to go through a process where a challenge emerges and they report it to their supervisor, that supervisor talks to a manager in another department, it goes back down the chain, the process is very slow,” explains the CTO. “Therefore we enable staff to handle things directly. Moving away from hierarchical consent for everything is so much cleaner and faster.”
Upcoming Challenges
The success of this nimble methodology will be evaluated in the intensity of Grand Prix when the season begins and there is a significant degree at stake for the sport, too. Cadillac have recruited as their reserve driver the young Californian Colton Herta
