Approximately one year ago at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last awarded the official approval as Formula One’s newest entry for 2026. Building the squad from scratch has required a hectic operating tempo that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo moon landing. As Formula One arrives on the Vegas strip this weekend, the team are aware the clock is ticking.
The Countdown to Australia
At the season finale of the campaign to be hosted in the United States, with just over a hundred days to go before they make their debut for the maiden outing in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a sisyphean challenge, they are conscious there will never be adequate time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, came aboard the newly formed team in early 2023 soon after it was created, when the team were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its core since then and gets a knowing grin when reflecting on the journey.
“You can have a brief moment reflecting at what you have accomplished and go: ‘Wow, what an achievement what we’ve done in less than three years,’” Chester states. “Then the next minute you consider: ‘Well, we still have a great deal to do.’”
A Unique Task
The CTO had success at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s title-winning years of 2005/2006 and was in command of engineering strategy at the recently formed Mercedes electric racing team, but nothing has been quite like the task of bringing the quintessentially American Cadillac marque, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the parent company, General Motors Corporation, into F1.
“Building an grand prix team from the ground up, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he says. “It is like nothing else. In an well-set team you won't have the chance to alter cultural approach.”
With each day that goes by minds are more focused on the looming moment of truth in Australia and expectations are being set realistically.
“It's reasonable to expect that any new team entering the sport is likely to start at the back but just making it to the starting line will be an accomplishment in itself,” the team principal commented earlier this year and while Nick Chester agreed with this sentiment he felt the organization had a reputation to build as well.
“Our primary goal we intend to prove is that we deserve to be there,” Chester explains. “In order that we turn up and we function efficiently. We want to show that we are a serious contender executing the proper actions on the track. After we have demonstrated that our credentials are solid, then we will focus on progression after that.”
Driver Lineup and Recruitment Drive
In late summer they contracted Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas as their racers for the 2026 season, a duo remarkable for their priceless expertise in operating at the front in two top-tier teams, the Red Bull team and the Mercedes team, and Valtteri Bottas reflected the mood of fighting spirit.
“Of course, we’re realistic,” he said. “There’s going to be a mountain of work to do, and it’s going to be almost certainly a difficult start, because it is F1. But we’re not there to stay at the back. I believe given this organization, with this team, these people, it's entirely possible we shouldn’t be able to progress rapidly to a competitive level and enjoy some success.”
To that end recruitment has been in full swing, with personnel now at more than 400 and intended to reach the objective of 600 rapidly. In addition to their present headquarters at the Silverstone circuit, the organization are in the process of finishing an headquarters at the Fishers location in Indy and there is the General Motors facility in North Carolina, where they are building the facility to build the new engine, scheduled for the 2029 season – until then they will use Ferrari power units – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Germany. It is a sophisticated organisation, contrary to the direction in F1 for greater centralisation, and has led to the fresh organizational mindset to which the CTO alluded.
NASA Inspiration
“We've drawn heavily from the NASA moon mission,” said the team principal just before the British GP in the summer. “We are pragmatic, we recognize how difficult it is. The timelines, they’re super, super, super short. Well, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have adopted, as opposed to the usual hierarchical system, a flat management structure similar to that of the space agency's, where there were a assortment of Apollo teams all focusing on different aspects of the project across a different facilities.
“When you must follow a procedure where an issue arises and they raise it up to their team leader, that leader talks to a supervisor somewhere else, it goes back down the chain, it becomes inefficient,” explains the CTO. “We give authority to people to take charge. Eliminating hierarchical consent for all decisions is much smoother and quicker.”
The Future
The success of this flexible methodology will be proven in the intensity of Grand Prix when the season begins and there is no little amount riding on this for Formula One, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their test driver the emerging American Colton Herta
