Approximately one year in the past at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were ultimately given the go-ahead as Formula One’s newest participant for the 2026 season. Establishing the team from scratch has involved a frenetic work rate that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo moon landing. As Formula One converges on the Vegas strip this weekend, the team understand the clock is ticking.
The Race Against Time to Australia
At the last event of the season to be held in the United States, with approximately a hundred days to go before they hit the circuit for the maiden outing in Melbourne at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a monumental endeavor, they are cognizant there will not be adequate time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, joined the nascent operation in early 2023 shortly after it was created, when the squad were without even an approved entry. He has been at its core since then and gets a knowing grin when reflecting on the journey.
“You can have a brief moment thinking back at what the team has achieved and think: ‘Incredible, what an achievement what we’ve done in less than three years,’” he notes. “Then the following moment you consider: ‘Yes, we still have quite a lot to do.’”
A Unique Challenge
Nick Chester had success at the Renault team in the driver Fernando Alonso's victorious campaigns of 2005/2006 and was in control of engineering strategy at the then-new Mercedes Formula E team, but nothing has truly matched the challenge of bringing the all-American Cadillac name, a factory team supported by the corporate entity, General Motors, into Formula One.
“Building an F1 team from the ground up, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he says. “It's unparalleled. In an existing team you don’t get the possibility to change team culture.”
With every day that elapses focus are sharper on the impending moment of truth in Melbourne and targets are being handled.
“One must presume that a brand-new squad entering the sport is probably going to finish last but just making it to the starting line will be an achievement in itself,” Lowdon stated recently and while Nick Chester agreed with this sentiment he felt the organization had a reputation to build as well.
“The initial objective we intend to prove is that we should be there,” Chester explains. “In order that we show up and we operate well. We aim to demonstrate that we are a serious contender doing the right things on the race track. Once we’ve shown that we are a legitimate team, then we aim to demonstrate forward movement from there on.”
Pilot Selection and Hiring Push
In August they signed Checo Pérez and Bottas as their racers for 2026, a tandem notable for their invaluable experience in performing at the leading positions in two championship-winning squads, the Red Bull team and Mercedes-AMG, and Bottas expressed the sentiment of fighting spirit.
“Of course, we’re realistic,” Bottas stated. “We have a huge amount of work to do, and we expect probably a tough opening, because this is Formula One. But we’re not there to finish last. I am confident with this setup, with this team, these personnel, there is every reason that we shouldn’t be able to progress rapidly up to the pace and enjoy some success.”
To realize that ambition recruitment has been in overdrive, with employees now at more than 400 and scheduled to attain the target of 600 rapidly. Alongside their existing facility at the UK base, the team are in the process of finishing an headquarters at the Fishers location in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM works in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are constructing the plant to produce the 2029 engine, planned for 2029 – in the meantime they will use power from Ferrari – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne. It is a sophisticated structure, contrary to the direction in F1 for greater centralisation, and has inspired the new cultural approach to which Nick Chester referred.
Space Mission Inspiration
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo project,” said the team principal just before the British GP in the summer. “We have a clear-eyed view, we understand how difficult it is. The timelines, are incredibly tight. OK, it's not a space expedition, but it can seem that way.”
So they have embraced, rather than the conventional chain of command, a flat management structure similar to that of NASA's, where there were a assortment of project teams all focusing on various components of the project across a different facilities.
“When you must follow a procedure where someone has a problem and they report it to their manager, that supervisor communicates with a supervisor somewhere else, it travels back down, it’s super slow,” notes Nick Chester. “So we empower staff to really get on with it. Eliminating management approval for everything is much smoother and faster.”
What Lies Ahead
The efficacy of this agile strategy will be proven in the heat of competition when the season begins and there is no little amount on the line for Formula One, too. Cadillac have recruited as their reserve driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
