Just over a full year in the past at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last awarded the go-ahead as Formula One’s latest entry for the 2026 season. Building the organization from the ground up has involved a hectic operating tempo that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo program. As Formula One descends on the Vegas strip this weekend, the team understand the clock is ticking.
The Countdown to Australia
At the last event of the championship to be hosted in the United States, with just over a hundred days to go before they make their debut for the first time in Melbourne at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a never-ending challenge, they are aware there will not be sufficient time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, joined the embryonic team in the spring of 2023 soon after it was formed, when the organization were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its heart since then and enjoys a knowing grin when considering the journey.
“You might get a short period looking back at what you have accomplished and go: ‘Incredible, what an achievement what the team has created in less than three years,’” he notes. “But then the following moment you realize: ‘Well, we still have a significant amount to do.’”
A Unique Challenge
Nick Chester enjoyed success at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s victorious seasons of 2005/2006 and was in control of technical direction at the then-new Mercedes electric racing team, but no other project has quite compared with the mission of launching the all-American Cadillac name, a works entry sponsored by the owner, General Motors Corporation, into F1.
“Creating an grand prix team from nothing, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” Chester remarks. “It's unparalleled. In an established team you won't have the possibility to transform organizational mindset.”
With each passing day that elapses focus are more focused on the approaching critical moment in Melbourne and expectations are being handled.
“One must presume that a brand-new squad coming in is going to be last but simply getting on to the grid will be an feat in itself,” Graeme Lowdon commented earlier this year and while the CTO agreed with this sentiment he felt the squad had a statement to make as well.
“The initial objective we aim to demonstrate is that we deserve to be there,” he emphasizes. “In order that we arrive and we function efficiently. We want to show that we’re a proper team doing the proper actions on the race track. When we prove that we are a legitimate team, then we want to show forward movement from there on.”
Pilot Selection and Hiring Push
In the summer they recruited Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas as their pilots for 2026, a pair remarkable for their priceless expertise in competing at the sharp end in two top-tier teams, Red Bull and Mercedes, and Bottas expressed the attitude of fighting spirit.
“Certainly, we have a realistic outlook,” he said. “We face a huge amount of work to do, and it’s going to be most likely a tough opening, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we’re not there to remain at the rear. I believe with this structure, with these individuals, this staff, there is every reason that we shouldn’t be able to advance swiftly to a competitive level and enjoy some success.”
To realize that ambition hiring has been in full swing, with personnel now at more than 400 and scheduled to hit the goal of six hundred swiftly. Alongside their current base at Silverstone, the squad are in the process of finishing an HQ at Fishers, Indiana in Indy and there is the GM works in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are developing the center to build the power unit, scheduled for 2029 – until then they will operate with Ferrari engines – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne, Germany. It is a sophisticated organisation, contrary to the trend in the sport for greater centralisation, and has led to the innovative team culture to which Chester referred to.
Space Mission Blueprint
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo project,” said the team principal ahead of the Silverstone race in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we understand how tough it is. The timelines, they’re super, super, super short. Alright, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it can seem that way.”
So they have adopted, rather than the usual hierarchical system, a flat management structure akin to that of NASA's, where there were a variety of Apollo teams all focusing on distinct elements of the project at a different facilities.
“When you must follow a process where an issue arises and they escalate it to their team leader, that supervisor communicates with a supervisor somewhere else, it goes back down the chain, it’s super slow,” explains Chester. “So we empower people to take charge. Eliminating managerial sign-off for all decisions is much smoother and quicker.”
The Future
The efficacy of this agile methodology will be tested in the intensity of Grand Prix in 2026 and there is no little amount on the line for Formula One, too. Cadillac have taken on as their test driver the young American Colton Herta
