A little more than a full year ago at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were ultimately granted the go-ahead as the world of Formula One's most recent entry for the 2026 season. Establishing the organization from nothing has required a hectic operating tempo that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo moon landing. As Formula One arrives on the Vegas strip this weekend, the team understand time is getting tight.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the last event of the season to be held in the United States, 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 endeavor, they are cognizant there will not be enough hours in the day.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, became part of the embryonic team in the spring of 2023 soon after it was established, when the organization were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its heart since then and has a knowing grin when reflecting on the journey.
“You might get a short period looking back at what you have accomplished and say: ‘Wow, isn’t this fantastic what the team has created in a short three-year period,’” Chester states. “But then the very next instant you realize: ‘Well, we’ve still got quite a lot to do.’”
An Unprecedented Task
Nick Chester achieved victories at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s title-winning campaigns of 2005/2006 and was in charge of engineering strategy at the new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no previous experience has truly matched the challenge of bringing the all-American Cadillac marque, a works entry supported by the corporate entity, General Motors Corporation, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Establishing an F1 team from the ground up, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he observes. “It is like nothing else. In an well-set team you won't have the possibility to change cultural approach.”
With every day that elapses thoughts are sharper on the approaching moment of truth in Melbourne and goals are being handled.
“It's reasonable to expect that any new team entering the sport is probably going to finish last but simply getting on to the grid will be an feat in itself,” Graeme Lowdon stated recently and while Chester agreed with this sentiment he believed the team had a reputation to build as well.
“Our primary goal we intend to prove is that we should be there,” he says. “In order that we show up and we function efficiently. We seek to prove that we’re a proper team performing the proper actions on the track. After we have demonstrated that we’re really credible, then we aim to demonstrate forward movement after that.”
Driver Lineup and Hiring Effort
In the summer they recruited Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their drivers for the 2026 season, a tandem notable for their vast knowledge in performing at the sharp end in two top-tier teams, Red Bull and Mercedes-AMG, and the Finnish driver expressed the sentiment of determined optimism.
“Naturally, we have a realistic outlook,” he commented. “We face a huge amount of work to do, and it’s going to be most likely a challenging beginning, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we’re not there to remain at the rear. In my view with this setup, with these individuals, these people, it's entirely possible we shouldn’t be able to get relatively quickly to the front and enjoy some success.”
To achieve that goal staff acquisition has been in full swing, with staff now at in excess of 400 and intended to reach the goal of 600 swiftly. Complementing their existing facility at Silverstone, the squad are in the process of building an main base at the Fishers location in Indianapolis and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, where they are building the plant to manufacture the new engine, set for the 2029 season – in the meantime they will operate with Ferrari engines – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne. It is a complex organization, contrary to the trend in F1 for greater centralisation, and has inspired the fresh organizational mindset to which the CTO referred to.
NASA Model
“We've drawn heavily from the NASA moon mission,” stated the team principal just before the British Grand Prix in the summer. “We have a clear-eyed view, we recognize how difficult it is. The deadlines, are extremely compressed. OK, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it can seem that way.”
So they have adopted, instead of the conventional chain of command, a flat management structure similar to that of the space agency's, where there were a range of project teams all focusing on distinct elements of the mission in a different facilities.
“When you must follow a protocol where a challenge emerges and they raise it up to their team leader, that supervisor consults a manager in another department, it is relayed back, it’s super slow,” explains the CTO. “Therefore we enable team members to handle things directly. Eliminating managerial sign-off for all decisions is far more efficient and more rapid.”
The Future
The effectiveness of this agile approach will be proven in the pressure of racing when the season begins and there is a considerable amount at stake for F1, too. Cadillac have signed as their reserve driver the young Californian Colton Herta
