A little more than twelve months previously at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last given the go-ahead as Formula One’s newest entry for 2026. Building the team from scratch has entailed a frenetic pace of work that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the NASA lunar mission. As Formula One arrives on Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac understand the clock is ticking.
The Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the last event of the championship to be hosted in the US, with just over 100 days to go before they hit the circuit for the maiden outing in Australia at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a never-ending endeavor, they are conscious there will not be enough hours in the day.
The CTO, Nick Chester, became part of the nascent project in the spring of 2023 soon after it was formed, when the team were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its center since then and enjoys a knowing grin when thinking about the ride.
“You might get five minutes thinking back at what the team has achieved and think: ‘Incredible, isn’t this fantastic what we’ve done in a short three-year period,’” he notes. “But then the following moment you realize: ‘Yes, we’ve still got quite a lot to do.’”
An Unprecedented Challenge
Chester enjoyed success at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s championship-winning seasons of the mid-2000s and was in charge of engineering strategy at the new Mercedes Formula E team, but nothing has truly matched the mission of introducing the quintessentially American Cadillac marque, a works entry sponsored by the parent company, GM, into Formula One.
“Creating an F1 team from scratch, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he observes. “It is like nothing else. In an existing team you won't have the possibility to change cultural approach.”
With each passing day that elapses focus are increasingly concentrated on the impending decisive point in Melbourne and expectations are being managed.
“One must presume that any incoming team entering the sport is likely to start at the back but merely participating will be an accomplishment in itself,” the team principal noted earlier this year and while Chester shared this view he thought the organization had a statement to make as well.
“The initial objective we aim to demonstrate is that we deserve to be there,” he says. “In order that we show up and we function efficiently. We seek to prove that this is a professional operation doing the right things on the track. When we prove that we are a legitimate team, then we aim to demonstrate forward movement from there on.”
Pilot Selection and Team Building Push
In late summer they recruited Checo Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a pair notable for their vast knowledge in operating at the leading positions in two championship-winning squads, the Red Bull team and Mercedes, and the Finnish driver echoed the attitude of combative optimism.
“Of course, we’re realistic,” he said. “We face a huge amount of work to do, and we expect almost certainly a challenging beginning, because it is F1. But we’re not there to remain at the rear. I believe given this organization, with these individuals, this staff, there is every reason that we won't be able to progress rapidly up to the pace and achieve good results.”
To achieve that goal hiring has been in full swing, with staff now reaching more than 400 and intended to reach the target of 600 rapidly. Complementing their existing facility at Silverstone, the squad are in the midst of building an HQ at Fishers in Indy and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, where they are constructing the center to produce the 2029 engine, scheduled for 2029 – for now they will run Ferrari power units – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a complex organisation, different from the direction in F1 for increased consolidation, and has prompted the new cultural approach to which Chester referred.
Space Mission Inspiration
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo program,” said Lowdon shortly before the British Grand Prix in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we know how tough it is. The timelines, are incredibly tight. OK, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have adopted, instead of the traditional management structure, a decentralized management akin to that of Nasa’s, where there were a variety of specialist groups all focusing on distinct elements of the project at a variety of locations.
“If you have to go through a protocol where a challenge emerges and they report it to their team leader, that manager consults a manager somewhere else, it goes back down the chain, it’s super slow,” notes Chester. “Therefore we enable people to handle things directly. Eliminating hierarchical consent for each action is much smoother and quicker.”
What Lies Ahead
The efficacy of this nimble approach will be tested in the heat of competition when the season begins and there is a considerable amount on the line for the sport, too. Cadillac have recruited as their development driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
