A little more than one year previously at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last given the green light as Formula One’s most recent participant for the 2026 season. Establishing the organization from scratch has involved a frenetic work rate that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo moon landing. As F1 converges on the Vegas strip this weekend, the team know the deadline is approaching.
The Race Against Time to Australia
At the last event of the championship to be held in the United States, with approximately three months to go before they make their debut for the inaugural time in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a never-ending challenge, they are conscious there will not be sufficient time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, became part of the newly formed project in the spring of 2023 shortly after it was established, when the squad were without even an official entry. He has been at its center since then and gets a amused expression when reflecting on the experience.
“There might be a brief moment looking back at what you have accomplished and say: ‘Incredible, isn’t this fantastic what we have built in under three years,’” Chester states. “And then the next minute you realize: ‘Yeah, we still have a great deal to do.’”
An Unprecedented Task
Chester enjoyed success at the Renault team in Alonso's championship-winning years of 2005 and 2006 and was in control of engineering strategy at the then-new Mercedes Formula E team, but no other project has been quite like the challenge of bringing the quintessentially American Cadillac brand, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the owner, General Motors, into F1.
“Establishing an grand prix team from scratch, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” Chester remarks. “There's nothing comparable. In an existing team you don’t get the opportunity to change organizational mindset.”
With each passing day that passes focus are increasingly concentrated on the impending moment of truth in Australia and goals are being handled.
“It's reasonable to expect that a brand-new squad joining the grid is going to be last but just making it to the starting line will be an feat in itself,” the team principal stated recently and while the CTO echoed this he felt the squad had a reputation to build as well.
“Our primary goal we intend to prove is that we deserve to be there,” he emphasizes. “So that we turn up and we perform competently. We want to show that we’re a proper team doing the right things on the track. When we have demonstrated that we’re really credible, then we want to show forward movement after that.”
Racing Talent and Hiring Drive
In August they recruited Sergio Pérez and Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a pair notable for their priceless expertise in competing at the leading positions in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes-AMG, and Bottas reflected the sentiment of combative optimism.
“Naturally, we’re realistic,” he said. “We have a massive task to do, and it will likely be probably a difficult start, because this is Formula One. But our goal isn't to finish last. I am confident given this organization, with these individuals, these personnel, it's entirely possible we can't manage to get relatively quickly up to the pace and taste victory.”
To that end hiring has been in full swing, with staff now up to over 400 and intended to hit the target of 600 rapidly. Complementing their present headquarters at the UK base, the organization are in the phase of completing an HQ at Fishers, Indiana in Indianapolis and there is the GM works in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are developing the facility to manufacture the 2029 engine, set for 2029 – for now they will run Ferrari power units – and the aerodynamic facility in Germany. It is a sophisticated organization, at odds with the movement in the sport for greater centralisation, and has inspired the innovative team culture to which the CTO alluded.
Space Mission Inspiration
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo project,” stated Lowdon ahead of the British Grand Prix in mid-season. “We’re realistic, we recognize how difficult it is. The timelines, they’re super, super, super short. Well, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have adopted, rather than the usual hierarchical system, a non-hierarchical approach akin to that of the space agency's, where there were a variety of project teams all focusing on distinct elements of the project across a different facilities.
“When you must follow a protocol where a challenge emerges and they report it to their manager, that supervisor talks to a supervisor somewhere else, it travels back down, it’s super slow,” notes Nick Chester. “So we empower people to handle things directly. Moving away from management approval for each action is so much cleaner and more rapid.”
The Future
The efficacy of this nimble strategy will be evaluated in the pressure of racing in 2026 and there is no little amount on the line for the sport, too. Cadillac have signed as their test driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta
