Approximately a full year ago at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were ultimately awarded the go-ahead as Formula One’s newest participant for the 2026 season. Constructing the squad from the ground up has entailed a intense pace of work that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened 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 Melbourne
At the last event of the campaign to be staged in the United States, with approximately three months to go before they make their debut for the inaugural time in Australia at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a monumental challenge, they are cognizant there will not be adequate time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, came aboard the nascent project in March 2023 soon after it was established, when the team were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its center since then and enjoys a knowing grin when reflecting on the ride.
“You can have a short period looking back at what the team has achieved and go: ‘Wow, how impressive what the team has created in a short three-year period,’” Chester states. “Then the very next instant you think: ‘Yeah, we still have a significant amount to do.’”
A Unique Task
The CTO achieved victories at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s title-winning years of 2005 and 2006 and was in control of engineering strategy at the recently formed Mercedes electric racing team, but nothing has been quite like the challenge of introducing the iconic American Cadillac brand, a factory team supported by the parent company, General Motors, into Formula One.
“Building an grand prix team from scratch, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he says. “It's unparalleled. In an established team you don’t get the opportunity to alter team culture.”
With each day that elapses minds are sharper on the looming critical moment in Melbourne and goals are being set realistically.
“One must presume that any new team entering the sport is going to be last but just making it to the starting line will be an accomplishment in itself,” Graeme Lowdon commented recently and while Nick Chester agreed with this sentiment he thought the team had a reputation to build as well.
“The initial objective we intend to prove is that we should be there,” Chester explains. “So that we turn up and we operate well. We want to show that this is a professional operation doing the right things on the circuit. Once we have demonstrated that we’re really credible, then we will focus on improvement from there on.”
Pilot Selection and Team Building Drive
In August they signed Sergio Perez and Valtteri as their drivers for the 2026 season, a tandem distinguished for their invaluable experience in performing at the front in two top-tier teams, Red Bull and Mercedes, and Valtteri Bottas echoed the sentiment of fighting spirit.
“Of course, we are pragmatic,” he commented. “We have a mountain of work to do, and we expect probably a tough opening, because it is F1. But we’re not there to finish last. I believe given this organization, with this team, this staff, there’s no reason why we can't manage to progress rapidly to the front and enjoy some success.”
To that end hiring has been in overdrive, with staff now up to over 400 and planned to hit the goal of six hundred rapidly. In addition to their existing facility at Silverstone, the squad are in the phase of building an main base at Fishers in Indy and there is the GM works in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are building the center to produce the 2029 engine, scheduled for the 2029 season – in the meantime they will operate with Ferrari engines – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a intricate structure, contrary to the trend in the sport for more centralization, and has led to the fresh organizational mindset to which Nick Chester referred.
Space Mission Inspiration
“It's closely based on the Apollo project,” remarked Lowdon shortly before the British Grand Prix in the summer. “We have a clear-eyed view, we recognize how challenging it is. The timelines, are incredibly tight. OK, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have adopted, as opposed to the traditional management structure, a decentralized management akin to that of Nasa’s, where there were a range of Apollo teams all tackling different aspects of the mission in a different facilities.
“In a system where you follow a protocol where a challenge emerges and they escalate it to their manager, that manager talks to a leader in another department, it is relayed back, it becomes inefficient,” says the CTO. “So we empower staff to really get on with it. Moving away from managerial sign-off for everything is so much cleaner and faster.”
The Future
The efficacy of this agile methodology will be evaluated in the pressure of racing when the season begins and there is no little amount at stake for F1, too. Cadillac have taken on as their reserve driver the young Californian Colton Herta
