A little more than one year in the past at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were ultimately granted the official approval as Formula One’s newest entrant for 2026. Constructing the squad from the ground up has involved a hectic operating tempo that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the NASA lunar mission. As F1 arrives on Las Vegas this weekend, the team understand the deadline is approaching.
The Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the season finale of the championship to be staged in the US, with just over three months 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 CTO, Nick Chester, joined the embryonic team in March 2023 shortly after it was created, when the squad were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its center ever since and gets a wry smile when thinking about the journey.
“There might be five minutes reflecting at what you have accomplished and think: ‘Wow, isn’t this fantastic what the team has created in under three years,’” he says. “But then the following moment you consider: ‘Yeah, there is still quite a lot to do.’”
A Unique Opportunity
Chester had success at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s victorious years of 2005/2006 and was in control of engineering strategy at the then-new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no previous experience has been quite like the mission of launching the all-American Cadillac name, a works entry supported by the owner, GM, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Establishing an grand prix team from nothing, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” Chester remarks. “It is like nothing else. In an established team you don’t get the chance to change cultural approach.”
With each day that passes minds are more focused on the approaching moment of truth in Melbourne and goals are being handled.
“You have to assume that any incoming team joining the grid is going to be last but just making it to the starting line will be an accomplishment in itself,” Lowdon commented recently and while Chester echoed this he believed the organization had a reputation to build as well.
“The first thing we aim to demonstrate is that we belong on the grid,” Chester explains. “In order that we show up and we perform competently. We want to show that we’re a proper team doing the right things on the circuit. Once we have demonstrated that our credentials are solid, then we want to show progression after that.”
Pilot Selection and Team Building Effort
In the summer they signed Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their pilots for the 2026 season, a duo distinguished for their priceless expertise in operating at the sharp end in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull and Mercedes-AMG, and the Finnish driver expressed the attitude of determined optimism.
“Certainly, we have a realistic outlook,” he said. “We face a massive task to do, and it’s going to be almost certainly a tough opening, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we’re not there to stay at the back. I believe with this structure, with these individuals, this staff, there’s no reason why we won't be able to advance swiftly to a competitive level and achieve good results.”
To realize that ambition hiring has been in full swing, with personnel now at in excess of 400 and intended to reach the target of 600 rapidly. In addition to their existing facility at the UK base, the organization are in the phase of building an main base at the Fishers location in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, where they are constructing the plant to build the 2029 engine, planned for the 2029 season – in the meantime they will use Ferrari engines – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a sophisticated organisation, contrary to the direction in Formula One for more centralization, and has inspired the fresh organizational mindset to which Chester referred to.
Space Mission Blueprint
“It's closely based on the Apollo program,” remarked Graeme Lowdon ahead of the Silverstone race in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we know how difficult it is. The schedules, they’re super, super, super short. Well, it's not a space expedition, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have implemented, rather than the conventional chain of command, a non-hierarchical approach comparable to that of Nasa’s, where there were a variety of specialist groups all focusing on distinct elements of the mission across a different facilities.
“If you have to go through a protocol where a challenge emerges and they escalate it to their team leader, that manager communicates with a leader at a different location, it goes back down the chain, it becomes inefficient,” notes Nick Chester. “We give authority to people to take charge. Moving away from hierarchical consent for each action is so much cleaner and quicker.”
What Lies Ahead
The effectiveness of this nimble strategy will be proven in the intensity of Grand Prix in 2026 and there is a significant degree at stake for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their development driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta
