Just over twelve months ago at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally given the green light as Formula One’s newest entry for 2026. Establishing the squad from the ground up has entailed a hectic work rate that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo moon landing. As Formula One descends on Las Vegas this weekend, Cadillac know time is getting tight.
The Tight Timeline to Australia
At the last event of the season to be hosted in the United States, with around 100 days to go before they hit the circuit for the first time in Australia at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a sisyphean task, they are cognizant there will not be sufficient time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, came aboard the nascent project in the spring of 2023 soon after it was created, when the team were without even an official entry. He has been at its center since then and has a knowing grin when thinking about the experience.
“There might be five minutes reflecting at what you have accomplished and say: ‘Amazing, what an achievement what the team has created in a short three-year period,’” Chester states. “And then the very next instant you think: ‘Yes, we still have a great deal to do.’”
A Unique Opportunity
Nick Chester enjoyed success at Renault in the driver Fernando Alonso's title-winning seasons of 2005 and 2006 and was in control of technical development at the then-new Mercedes Formula E team, but no previous experience has been quite like the task of introducing the iconic American Cadillac name, a works entry sponsored by the corporate entity, General Motors Corporation, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Building an F1 team from scratch, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” Chester remarks. “It is like nothing else. In an existing team you don’t get the chance to transform cultural approach.”
With each passing day that passes thoughts are increasingly concentrated on the impending critical moment in Australia and expectations are being set realistically.
“You have to assume that any incoming team joining the grid is likely to start at the back but merely participating will be an feat in itself,” the team principal commented recently and while Nick Chester shared this view he thought the team had a reputation to build as well.
“Our primary goal we want to show is that we should be there,” he says. “In order that we arrive and we operate well. We aim to demonstrate that we’re a proper team executing the right things on the circuit. Once we prove that we are a legitimate team, then we want to show improvement after that.”
Driver Lineup and Recruitment Push
In the summer they recruited Sergio Perez and Bottas as their racers for the 2026 season, a tandem remarkable for their vast knowledge in performing at the front in two top-tier teams, the Red Bull team and Mercedes-AMG, and the Finnish driver echoed the attitude of determined optimism.
“Naturally, we’re realistic,” he commented. “There’s going to be a huge amount of work to do, and it’s going to be probably a tough opening, because it's the top level of motorsport. But our goal isn't to stay at the back. I believe with this structure, with these individuals, this staff, there is every reason that we won'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 planned to hit the goal of 600 quickly. Complementing their existing facility at the UK base, the squad are in the phase of completing an headquarters at Fishers in Indy and there is the General Motors facility in North Carolina, where they are building the plant to produce the power unit, planned for the 2029 season – until then they will run power from Ferrari – and the aerodynamic facility in Germany. It is a sophisticated structure, at odds with the movement in the sport for increased consolidation, and has prompted the innovative team culture to which Chester referred to.
NASA Inspiration
“It's closely based on the Apollo project,” stated Lowdon just before the British Grand Prix in July. “We’re realistic, we recognize how challenging it is. The timelines, are extremely compressed. Well, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have implemented, rather than the usual hierarchical system, a decentralized management comparable to that of NASA's, where there were a variety of Apollo teams all tackling distinct elements of the mission across a variety of locations.
“When you must follow a process where a challenge emerges and they escalate it to their supervisor, that leader consults a supervisor somewhere else, it goes back down the chain, the process is very slow,” says Nick Chester. “Therefore we enable people to take charge. Avoiding managerial sign-off for all decisions is much smoother and faster.”
The Future
The effectiveness of this agile methodology will be proven in the heat of competition next season and there is no little amount riding on this for Formula One, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their test driver the emerging American Colton Herta
