Just over one year in the past at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally awarded the official approval as Formula One’s most recent entry for 2026. Building the organization from scratch has involved a frenetic operating tempo that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the NASA lunar mission. As Formula One descends on Las Vegas this weekend, the team know the clock is ticking.
The Race Against Time to Australia
At the season finale of the championship to be held in the US, with around 100 days to go before they hit the circuit for the inaugural time in Melbourne at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a never-ending endeavor, they are conscious there will not be sufficient time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, became part of the embryonic operation in March 2023 shortly after it was formed, when the organization were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its core from that point and has a amused expression when reflecting on the experience.
“There might be a brief moment thinking back at what you’ve done and say: ‘Wow, what an achievement what we’ve done in a short three-year period,’” Chester states. “Then the next minute you consider: ‘Well, there is still quite a lot to do.’”
A Unique Task
Nick Chester achieved victories at Renault in Alonso's championship-winning seasons of the mid-2000s and was in control of technical direction at the new Mercedes Formula E team, but nothing has been quite like the task of launching the iconic American Cadillac brand, a factory team backed by the parent company, General Motors, into F1.
“Establishing an Formula One team from scratch, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he observes. “There's nothing comparable. In an existing team you don’t get the possibility to transform cultural approach.”
With every day that goes by minds are sharper on the impending critical moment in the Australian GP and targets are being handled.
“It's reasonable to expect that a brand-new squad joining the grid is going to be last but merely participating will be an accomplishment in itself,” the team principal commented this year and while Chester agreed with this sentiment he thought the organization had a reputation to build as well.
“The first thing we want to show is that we should be there,” he emphasizes. “So that we turn up and we operate well. We aim to demonstrate that we’re a proper team performing the correct procedures on the track. After we have demonstrated that we are a legitimate team, then we will focus on improvement subsequently.”
Pilot Selection and Recruitment Drive
In August they signed Sergio Pérez and Valtteri as their drivers for 2026, a pair notable for their invaluable experience in performing at the front in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes-AMG, and the Finnish driver echoed the attitude of determined optimism.
“Naturally, we’re realistic,” he said. “We have a mountain of work to do, and it will likely be almost certainly a challenging beginning, because it's the top level of motorsport. But our goal isn't to stay at the back. In my view given this organization, with this team, these personnel, there’s no reason why we won't be able to get relatively quickly to a competitive level and enjoy some success.”
To that end staff acquisition has been in full swing, with staff now reaching over 400 and intended to attain the objective of 600 swiftly. Complementing their current base at the UK base, the squad are in the midst of building an headquarters at Fishers, Indiana in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, where they are constructing the facility to manufacture the power unit, set for 2029 – for now they will run Ferrari power units – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a intricate organization, different from the direction in the sport for greater centralisation, and has led to the innovative team culture to which Nick Chester referred to.
Apollo Inspiration
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo project,” remarked Graeme Lowdon ahead of the British GP in July. “We’re realistic, we know how challenging it is. The schedules, are extremely compressed. Well, it's not a space expedition, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have embraced, rather than the traditional management structure, a non-hierarchical approach akin to that of the space agency's, where there were a range of Apollo teams all focusing on various components of the mission at a different facilities.
“If you have to go through a process where someone has a problem and they raise it up to their team leader, that leader communicates with a supervisor at a different location, it is relayed back, the process is very slow,” notes Nick Chester. “Therefore we enable team members to take charge. Moving away from managerial sign-off for all decisions is far more efficient and quicker.”
The Future
The efficacy of this agile strategy will be proven in the heat of competition in 2026 and there is a significant degree on the line for Formula One, too. Cadillac have signed as their test driver the young American Colton Herta
