Just over one year in the past at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally granted the green light as the world of Formula One's latest entry for the 2026 season. Establishing the organization from the ground up has entailed a intense work rate that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo moon landing. As the sport converges on Vegas this weekend, the team know the deadline is approaching.
The Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the season finale of the championship to be hosted in the America, with around three months to go before they take to the track for the inaugural time in Melbourne at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a sisyphean task, they are aware there will not be sufficient time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, became part of the newly formed operation in early 2023 soon after it was established, when the team were without even an official entry. He has been at its center since then and has a amused expression when considering the journey.
“There might be a short period thinking back at what you’ve done and say: ‘Wow, how impressive what we have built in less than three years,’” he notes. “And then the following moment you consider: ‘Well, we still have quite a lot to do.’”
A Unique Challenge
The CTO had success at Renault in Alonso's championship-winning campaigns of the mid-2000s and was in control of engineering strategy at the then-new Mercedes Formula E team, but no other project has been quite like the mission of introducing the all-American Cadillac brand, a manufacturer-backed entry backed by the owner, GM, into F1.
“Creating an F1 team from the ground up, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he says. “It's unparalleled. In an well-set team you won't have the chance to alter cultural approach.”
With every day that elapses minds are more focused on the looming decisive point in Australia and expectations are being handled.
“It's reasonable to expect that any new team coming in is likely to start at the back but just making it to the starting line will be an feat in itself,” Graeme Lowdon stated this year and while Nick Chester shared this view he thought the squad had a reputation to build as well.
“The first thing we aim to demonstrate is that we belong on the grid,” he says. “So that we turn up and we function efficiently. We want to show that this is a professional operation performing the right things on the race track. When we prove that our credentials are solid, then we aim to demonstrate progression subsequently.”
Driver Lineup and Recruitment Drive
In the summer they signed Sergio Pérez and Valtteri as their drivers for 2026, a duo remarkable for their priceless expertise in competing at the sharp end in two championship-winning squads, the Red Bull team and Mercedes-AMG, and the Finnish driver reflected the sentiment of combative optimism.
“Certainly, we have a realistic outlook,” he said. “We face a huge amount of work to do, and it’s going to be probably a difficult start, because this is Formula One. But our goal isn't to finish last. I am confident given this organization, with this team, these personnel, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to progress rapidly up to the pace and taste victory.”
To that end staff acquisition has been in full swing, with employees now up to more than 400 and scheduled to hit the goal of 600 rapidly. Complementing their existing facility at Silverstone, the team are in the process of completing an main base at the Fishers location in Indianapolis and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are developing the center to build the power unit, planned for 2029 – in the meantime they will operate with Ferrari engines – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a intricate organisation, contrary to the movement in the sport for more centralization, and has prompted the innovative team culture to which the CTO alluded.
NASA Model
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo project,” stated the team principal shortly before the British Grand Prix in mid-season. “We are pragmatic, we recognize how difficult it is. The deadlines, are extremely compressed. Well, it's not a space expedition, but it can seem that way.”
So they have implemented, rather than the usual hierarchical system, a flat management structure similar to that of NASA's, where there were a variety of Apollo teams all working on different aspects of the program in a variety of locations.
“When you must follow a protocol where an issue arises and they raise it up to their supervisor, that leader communicates with a leader at a different location, it goes back down the chain, it becomes inefficient,” says Chester. “Therefore we enable people to take charge. Moving away from managerial sign-off for all decisions is far more efficient and quicker.”
What Lies Ahead
The efficacy of this agile methodology will be tested in the pressure of racing next season and there is a significant degree at stake for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have taken on as their reserve driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta
