Just over a full year previously at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last awarded the green light as Formula One’s most recent entrant for the 2026 season. Establishing the squad from scratch has involved a intense work rate that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo program. As F1 arrives on the Vegas strip this race weekend, Cadillac understand the clock is ticking.
The Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the final race of the season to be hosted in the US, with around a hundred days to go before they take to the track for the first time in Melbourne at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a monumental task, they are conscious there will not be adequate time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, became part of the embryonic team in March 2023 shortly after it was created, when the team were without even an approved entry. He has been at its core since then and has a wry smile when reflecting on the experience.
“You might get a brief moment thinking back at what the team has achieved and think: ‘Wow, isn’t this fantastic what we’ve done in a short three-year period,’” he notes. “But then the following moment you consider: ‘Yeah, we still have quite a lot to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Opportunity
Nick Chester achieved victories at the Renault team in Alonso's victorious campaigns of the mid-2000s and was in command of technical direction at the new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but nothing has been quite like the challenge of bringing the all-American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the corporate entity, GM, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Creating an grand prix team from the ground up, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he observes. “It's unparalleled. In an existing team you rarely get the possibility to alter team culture.”
With every day that elapses thoughts are more focused on the impending critical moment in Australia and expectations are being set realistically.
“One must presume that any incoming team entering the sport is going to be last but merely participating will be an feat in itself,” the team principal noted earlier this year and while Nick Chester shared this view he believed the organization had a point to prove as well.
“The initial objective we intend to prove is that we belong on the grid,” he says. “So we show up and we operate well. We aim to demonstrate that we are a serious contender executing the proper actions on the circuit. When we have demonstrated that our credentials are solid, then we want to show progression subsequently.”
Driver Lineup and Team Building Effort
In August they recruited Sergio Perez and Bottas as their pilots for 2026, a duo distinguished for their invaluable experience in operating at the leading positions in two championship-winning squads, the Red Bull team and Mercedes-AMG, and Bottas echoed the mood of determined optimism.
“Naturally, we have a realistic outlook,” Bottas stated. “There’s going to be a massive task to do, and we expect probably a difficult start, because this is Formula One. But we’re not there to finish last. I am confident given this organization, with these individuals, this staff, there is every reason that we won't be able to advance swiftly to the front and taste victory.”
To achieve that goal hiring has been in full swing, with staff now at over 400 and planned to hit the objective of 600 members rapidly. Complementing their existing facility at the UK base, the team are in the process of building an headquarters at the Fishers location in Indianapolis and there is the GM plant in North Carolina, where they are constructing the center to produce the new engine, set for the 2029 season – for now they will run Ferrari engines – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne, Germany. It is a sophisticated organisation, at odds with the trend in F1 for greater centralisation, and has led to the innovative team culture to which Chester referred to.
NASA Blueprint
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo program,” said Graeme Lowdon ahead of the Silverstone race in mid-season. “We are pragmatic, we recognize how difficult it is. The schedules, are incredibly tight. Alright, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have embraced, rather than the usual hierarchical system, a decentralized management similar to that of Nasa’s, where there were a range of project teams all focusing on distinct elements of the program across a variety of locations.
“If you have to go through a protocol where an issue arises and they raise it up to their supervisor, that supervisor consults a manager in another department, it travels back down, the process is very slow,” says Chester. “We give authority to staff to take charge. Moving away from management approval for each action is so much cleaner and quicker.”
Upcoming Challenges
The effectiveness of this agile approach will be proven in the intensity of Grand Prix in 2026 and there is a considerable amount riding on this for Formula One, too. Cadillac have signed as their development driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
