A little more than one year in the past at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally granted the go-ahead as Formula One’s most recent entry for the 2026 season. Constructing the organization from the ground up has required a hectic work rate that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the NASA lunar mission. As F1 descends on the Vegas strip this race weekend, the team understand the deadline is approaching.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the season finale of the campaign to be hosted in the America, with approximately 100 days to go before they take to the track for the inaugural time in Melbourne at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a sisyphean task, they are cognizant there will not be adequate time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, came aboard the embryonic team in early 2023 not long after it was established, when the organization were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its heart since then and enjoys a wry smile when thinking about the experience.
“There might be five minutes looking back at what you have accomplished and say: ‘Amazing, isn’t this fantastic what we’ve done in a short three-year period,’” Chester states. “But then the very next instant you realize: ‘Well, there is still a significant amount to do.’”
An Unprecedented Task
Nick Chester achieved victories at Renault in the driver Fernando Alonso's victorious seasons of 2005 and 2006 and was in control of technical direction at the new Mercedes electric racing team, but nothing has been quite like the task of launching the quintessentially American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the corporate entity, GM, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Establishing an Formula One team from nothing, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” Chester remarks. “It's unparalleled. In an established team you rarely get the opportunity to alter cultural approach.”
With every day that elapses thoughts are increasingly concentrated on the looming critical moment in Melbourne and targets are being handled.
“One must presume that a brand-new squad joining the grid is likely to start at the back but merely participating will be an accomplishment in itself,” Graeme Lowdon commented earlier this year and while Nick Chester shared this view he believed the team had a statement to make as well.
“Our primary goal we intend to prove is that we should be there,” Chester explains. “So we arrive and we operate well. We aim to demonstrate that this is a professional operation performing the proper actions on the circuit. Once we have demonstrated that we’re really credible, then we will focus on forward movement after that.”
Driver Lineup and Hiring Push
In the summer they recruited Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a pair remarkable for their vast knowledge in operating at the leading positions in two top-tier teams, Red Bull and Mercedes-AMG, and Bottas echoed the mood of combative optimism.
“Certainly, we’re realistic,” he commented. “We have a huge amount of work to do, and we expect probably a challenging beginning, because it is F1. But we’re not there to stay at the back. I am confident with this structure, with this group, these personnel, there is every reason that we shouldn’t be able to get relatively quickly up to the pace and taste victory.”
To achieve that goal staff acquisition has been in overdrive, with personnel now up to in excess of 400 and planned to hit the target of six hundred rapidly. Complementing their present headquarters at the UK base, the organization are in the process of completing an headquarters at Fishers in Indy and there is the GM works in North Carolina, where they are developing the facility to manufacture the 2029 engine, scheduled for 2029 – for now they will operate with Ferrari power units – and the aerodynamic facility in Germany. It is a complex organization, contrary to the movement in F1 for increased consolidation, and has prompted the innovative team culture to which the CTO alluded.
NASA Blueprint
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo program,” remarked the team principal just before the British Grand Prix in July. “We are pragmatic, we understand how difficult it is. The schedules, they’re super, super, super short. OK, it's not a space expedition, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have implemented, as opposed to the conventional chain of command, a flat management structure comparable to that of Nasa’s, where there were a variety of specialist groups all working on various components of the program in a variety of locations.
“In a system where you follow a process where a challenge emerges and they raise it up to their manager, that leader talks to a leader in another department, it is relayed back, it’s super slow,” says Chester. “Therefore we enable staff to take charge. Eliminating managerial sign-off for each action is so much cleaner and more rapid.”
Upcoming Challenges
The effectiveness of this nimble strategy will be proven in the pressure of racing next season and there is a significant degree on the line for F1, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their reserve driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
