Approximately one year ago at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were ultimately awarded the green light as Formula One’s newest participant for the 2026 season. Constructing the organization from scratch has involved a frenetic work rate that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo moon landing. As F1 arrives on the Vegas strip this race weekend, Cadillac understand the clock is ticking.
The Tight Timeline to Melbourne
At the final race of the campaign to be hosted in the United States, with around a hundred days to go before they hit the circuit for the maiden outing in Australia at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a sisyphean task, they are conscious there will not be sufficient time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, joined the newly formed team in March 2023 shortly after it was established, when the squad were without even an approved entry. He has been at its core since then and has a knowing grin when thinking about the ride.
“There might be a short period thinking back at what you have accomplished and say: ‘Amazing, how impressive what the team has created in a short three-year period,’” he says. “And then the next minute you realize: ‘Well, there is still a significant amount to do.’”
A Unique Task
The CTO achieved victories at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s championship-winning years of the mid-2000s and was in charge of engineering strategy at the new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no other project has truly matched the task of launching the iconic American Cadillac name, a factory team supported by the parent company, GM, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Building an Formula One team from scratch, 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 team culture.”
With every day that passes minds are more focused on the approaching moment of truth in the Australian GP and expectations are being managed.
“It's reasonable to expect that any new team coming in is likely to start at the back but simply getting on to the grid will be an achievement in itself,” the team principal stated this year and while Nick Chester agreed with this sentiment he felt the organization had a statement to make as well.
“The initial objective we intend to prove is that we belong on the grid,” Chester explains. “In order that we show up and we operate well. We seek to prove that we’re a proper team executing the correct procedures on the track. Once we prove that we’re really credible, then we want to show forward movement from there on.”
Driver Lineup and Hiring Effort
In August they recruited Checo Pérez and Bottas as their pilots for 2026, a tandem remarkable for their priceless expertise in competing at the sharp end in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull and Mercedes, and Bottas reflected the attitude of combative optimism.
“Naturally, we are pragmatic,” he said. “We face a massive task to do, and we expect probably a difficult start, because this is Formula One. But we’re not there to remain at the rear. In my view given this organization, with these individuals, these people, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to get relatively quickly to a competitive level and achieve good results.”
To that end recruitment has been in full swing, with employees now up to over 400 and intended to reach the goal of 600 members swiftly. Complementing their present headquarters at Silverstone, the squad are in the phase of finishing an headquarters at Fishers, Indiana in Indianapolis and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, where they are building the plant to manufacture the power unit, set for 2029 – until then they will use Ferrari power units – and the aerodynamic facility in Germany. It is a sophisticated organisation, different from the movement in F1 for more centralization, and has inspired the innovative team culture to which the CTO referred to.
Apollo Blueprint
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo program,” remarked Graeme Lowdon ahead of the British Grand Prix in the summer. “We are pragmatic, we understand how tough it is. The timelines, are extremely compressed. Alright, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have adopted, instead of the conventional chain of command, a flat management structure similar to that of NASA's, where there were a variety of Apollo teams all focusing on various components of the project in a different facilities.
“When you must follow a process where a challenge emerges and they raise it up to their team leader, that manager talks to a manager somewhere else, it is relayed back, it’s super slow,” explains the CTO. “Therefore we enable staff to handle things directly. Avoiding management approval for everything is much smoother and more rapid.”
What Lies Ahead
The success of this agile approach will be proven in the pressure of racing when the season begins and there is no little amount at stake for Formula One, too. Cadillac have recruited as their reserve driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta
