Approximately one year ago at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally given the go-ahead as Formula One’s newest entrant for the 2026 season. Establishing the team from scratch has required a hectic operating tempo that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo program. As Formula One converges on Las Vegas this race weekend, the team understand the clock is ticking.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the last event of the championship to be hosted in the US, with around a hundred days to go before they make their debut for the inaugural time in Australia at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a never-ending task, they are aware there will never be sufficient time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, became part of the nascent team in the spring of 2023 shortly after it was formed, when the squad were without even an official entry. He has been at its center since then and has a knowing grin when thinking about the experience.
“You can have five minutes looking back at what you have accomplished and go: ‘Incredible, how impressive what we have built in a short three-year period,’” he says. “But then the following moment you realize: ‘Yes, we still have a great deal to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Opportunity
The CTO enjoyed success at Renault in the driver Fernando Alonso's victorious campaigns of the mid-2000s and was in control of technical direction at the new Mercedes electric racing team, but no previous experience has truly matched the task of bringing the all-American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry backed by the parent company, General Motors, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Creating an Formula One team from the ground up, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he observes. “It's unparalleled. In an established team you rarely get the chance to change organizational mindset.”
With each passing day that elapses thoughts are increasingly concentrated on the looming critical moment in the Australian GP and goals are being set realistically.
“One must presume that a brand-new squad joining the grid is probably going to finish last but just making it to the starting line will be an achievement in itself,” the team principal noted this year and while Chester agreed with this sentiment he thought the squad had a point to prove as well.
“Our primary goal we intend to prove is that we deserve to be there,” he emphasizes. “So that we show up and we perform competently. We want to show that we are a serious contender doing the correct procedures on the race track. After we prove that we are a legitimate team, then we will focus on improvement from there on.”
Driver Lineup and Hiring Effort
In the summer they signed Checo Pérez and Valtteri as their racers for 2026, a pair notable for their vast knowledge in competing at the leading positions in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull and the Mercedes team, and Bottas reflected the mood of fighting spirit.
“Of course, we have a realistic outlook,” Bottas stated. “There’s going to be a huge amount of work to do, and it’s going to be probably a challenging beginning, because it's the top level of motorsport. But our goal isn't to stay at the back. I am confident with this setup, with these individuals, this staff, it's entirely possible we can't manage to progress rapidly up to the pace and taste victory.”
To that end recruitment has been in overdrive, with staff now at over 400 and intended to hit the target of six hundred rapidly. In addition to their current base at the UK base, the squad are in the phase of finishing an headquarters at the Fishers location in Indy and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, where they are building the center to build the new engine, scheduled for 2029 – until then they will use power from Ferrari – and the aerodynamic facility in Germany. It is a complex structure, different from the trend in Formula One for increased consolidation, and has inspired the innovative team culture to which Nick Chester referred to.
NASA Blueprint
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo program,” stated Graeme Lowdon just before the British GP in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we know how tough it is. The schedules, are extremely compressed. OK, it's not a space expedition, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have embraced, as opposed to the conventional chain of command, a flat management structure similar to that of the space agency's, where there were a assortment of project teams all focusing on distinct elements of the program in a variety of locations.
“If you have to go through a process where someone has a problem and they report it to their manager, that manager talks to a manager at a different location, it is relayed back, it’s super slow,” notes the CTO. “So we empower people to take charge. Moving away from hierarchical consent for everything is so much cleaner and quicker.”
Upcoming Challenges
The success of this flexible approach will be tested in the intensity of Grand Prix next season and there is a considerable amount at stake for F1, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their development driver the young Californian Colton Herta
