Approximately a full year previously at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally awarded the official approval as Formula One’s latest participant for the 2026 season. Constructing the squad from the ground up has entailed a hectic work rate that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo moon landing. As the sport descends on Las Vegas this weekend, Cadillac are aware the clock is ticking.
The Countdown to Australia
At the last event of the campaign to be staged in the America, with approximately a hundred days to go before they take to the track for the first time in Melbourne at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a never-ending task, they are cognizant there will never be sufficient time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, came aboard the newly formed operation in the spring of 2023 not long after it was formed, when the organization were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its center since then and gets a wry smile when thinking about the experience.
“There might be five minutes thinking back at what you’ve done and go: ‘Wow, what an achievement what the team has created in less than three years,’” Chester states. “And then the following moment you realize: ‘Well, we still have a significant amount to do.’”
A Unique Opportunity
The CTO enjoyed success at Renault in the driver Fernando Alonso's title-winning seasons of 2005/2006 and was in control of technical development at the new Mercedes Formula E team, but no other project has quite compared with the task of launching the quintessentially American Cadillac marque, a factory team supported by the corporate entity, General Motors Corporation, into F1.
“Building an F1 team from scratch, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he observes. “There's nothing comparable. In an existing team you rarely get the possibility to alter cultural approach.”
With every day that goes by thoughts are more focused on the impending moment of truth in the Australian GP and goals are being managed.
“It's reasonable to expect that any incoming team coming in is likely to start at the back but merely participating will be an feat in itself,” Graeme Lowdon stated recently and while Chester shared this view he thought the squad had a point to prove as well.
“The first thing we aim to demonstrate is that we deserve to be there,” Chester explains. “So we arrive and we function efficiently. We want to show that we’re a proper team performing the correct procedures on the race track. Once we’ve shown that our credentials are solid, then we want to show progression subsequently.”
Driver Lineup and Recruitment Effort
In the summer they contracted Sergio Perez and Bottas as their racers for 2026, a duo distinguished for their vast knowledge in performing at the leading positions in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes-AMG, and Valtteri Bottas expressed the attitude of fighting spirit.
“Of course, we have a realistic outlook,” he commented. “There’s going to be a huge amount of work to do, and it will likely be probably a difficult start, because it is F1. But our goal isn't to stay at the back. In my view given this organization, with these individuals, these personnel, there is every reason that we shouldn’t be able to advance swiftly to the front and enjoy some success.”
To achieve that goal staff acquisition has been in overdrive, with employees now at over 400 and intended to reach the objective of 600 rapidly. Alongside their current base at Silverstone, the team are in the phase of building an main base at Fishers in Indy and there is the General Motors facility in North Carolina, where they are developing the center to manufacture the new engine, set for 2029 – until then they will use Ferrari power units – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne, Germany. It is a sophisticated structure, at odds with the direction in the sport for increased consolidation, and has inspired the new cultural approach to which Nick Chester referred to.
NASA Inspiration
“It’s highly modelled on the NASA moon mission,” said Lowdon ahead of the British GP in the summer. “We are pragmatic, we recognize how difficult it is. The schedules, are incredibly tight. Alright, it's not a space expedition, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have adopted, rather than the usual hierarchical system, a non-hierarchical approach akin to that of NASA's, where there were a variety of project teams all tackling various components of the program across a multiple sites.
“When you must follow a procedure where an issue arises and they raise it up to their team leader, that manager consults a supervisor in another department, it is relayed back, it’s super slow,” says Nick Chester. “So we empower staff to really get on with it. Moving away from managerial sign-off for each action is so much cleaner and faster.”
The Future
The efficacy of this agile strategy will be proven in the pressure of racing next season and there is a considerable amount on the line for Formula One, too. Cadillac have signed as their development driver the young American Colton Herta
