Approximately a full year previously at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were ultimately granted the go-ahead as the world of Formula One's most recent participant for 2026. Building the team from nothing has required a intense pace of work that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo moon landing. As F1 converges on the Vegas strip this weekend, Cadillac are aware the clock is ticking.
The Race Against Time to Australia
At the final race of the campaign to be hosted in the America, with approximately three months to go before they make their debut for the maiden outing in Australia at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a monumental task, they are cognizant there will not be adequate time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, became part of the nascent operation in early 2023 soon after it was created, when the organization were without even an approved entry. He has been at its heart from that point and enjoys a knowing grin when reflecting on the experience.
“There might be a brief moment thinking back at what you’ve done and go: ‘Amazing, how impressive what we have built in less than three years,’” he says. “Then the very next instant you think: ‘Well, there is still quite a lot to do.’”
An Unprecedented Task
Chester enjoyed success at the Renault team in the driver Fernando Alonso's title-winning seasons of the mid-2000s and was in control of technical development at the then-new Mercedes electric racing team, but no previous experience has quite compared with the task of bringing the all-American Cadillac marque, a works entry backed by the parent company, GM, into Formula One.
“Establishing an F1 team from scratch, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” Chester remarks. “There's nothing comparable. In an established team you won't have the opportunity to change cultural approach.”
With each day that elapses focus are sharper on the impending moment of truth in Australia and goals are being managed.
“One must presume that a brand-new squad coming in is likely to start at the back but merely participating will be an feat in itself,” Lowdon commented this year and while Chester shared this view he believed the organization had a statement to make as well.
“The first thing we want to show is that we deserve to be there,” he says. “So we arrive and we perform competently. We seek to prove that we’re a proper team doing the right things on the track. When we have demonstrated that we are a legitimate team, then we aim to demonstrate forward movement subsequently.”
Pilot Selection and Hiring Drive
In the summer they signed Sergio Perez and Valtteri as their racers for 2026, a pair distinguished for their priceless expertise in performing at the sharp end in two top-tier teams, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes-AMG, and Bottas echoed the mood of determined optimism.
“Certainly, we’re realistic,” Bottas stated. “We face a massive task to do, and it’s going to be almost certainly a difficult start, because it's the top level of motorsport. But our goal isn't to remain at the rear. I am confident with this setup, with this team, these personnel, there is every reason that we won't be able to advance swiftly to a competitive level and taste victory.”
To realize that ambition recruitment has been in top gear, with staff now up to in excess of 400 and intended to hit the goal of 600 members swiftly. Alongside their present headquarters at the UK base, the team are in the process of building an headquarters at Fishers in Indy and there is the General Motors facility in North Carolina, where they are constructing the plant to build the new engine, planned for the 2029 season – until then they will use Ferrari power units – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a sophisticated organisation, different from the trend in the sport for increased consolidation, and has inspired the fresh organizational mindset to which the CTO alluded.
Space Mission Blueprint
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo program,” said the team principal just before the British Grand Prix in mid-season. “We are pragmatic, we recognize how tough it is. The schedules, are incredibly tight. Alright, it's not a space expedition, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have implemented, rather than the traditional management structure, a non-hierarchical approach similar to that of Nasa’s, where there were a variety of Apollo teams all focusing on different aspects of the mission across a variety of locations.
“When you must follow a process where an issue arises and they raise it up to their manager, that leader talks to a supervisor in another department, it travels back down, the process is very slow,” explains the CTO. “Therefore we enable team members to really get on with it. Moving away from hierarchical consent for each action is so much cleaner and faster.”
The Future
The efficacy of this agile strategy will be proven in the intensity of Grand Prix when the season begins and there is a considerable amount on the line for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their test driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta
