Just over a full year ago at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were ultimately awarded the go-ahead as the world of Formula One's newest entrant for 2026. Building the team from the ground up has entailed a hectic work rate that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the NASA lunar mission. As the sport descends on the Vegas strip this race weekend, Cadillac are aware the clock is ticking.
The Tight Timeline to Australia
At the final race of the championship to be staged in the America, with just over a hundred days to go before they make their debut for the inaugural time in Melbourne at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a sisyphean challenge, they are cognizant there will not be sufficient time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, joined the newly formed team in March 2023 not long after it was created, when the team were without even an approved entry. He has been at its core from that point and has a amused expression when considering the ride.
“You might get a brief moment thinking back at what you have accomplished and go: ‘Incredible, how impressive what we’ve done in under three years,’” he says. “Then the very next instant you consider: ‘Yeah, we’ve still got quite a lot to do.’”
A Unique Challenge
The CTO enjoyed success at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s title-winning years of 2005/2006 and was in command of technical development at the recently formed Mercedes electric racing team, but no previous experience has quite compared with the task of bringing the iconic American Cadillac brand, a works entry sponsored by the parent company, GM, into Formula One.
“Establishing an F1 team from the ground up, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he says. “It's unparalleled. In an established team you rarely get the chance to transform organizational mindset.”
With each day that goes by minds are more focused on the approaching moment of truth in the Australian GP and targets are being handled.
“It's reasonable to expect that any new team joining the grid is going to be last but simply getting on to the grid will be an accomplishment in itself,” Lowdon stated this year and while Nick Chester shared this view he felt the organization had a reputation to build as well.
“Our primary goal we want to show is that we deserve to be there,” he emphasizes. “So that we turn up and we perform competently. We seek to prove that we are a serious contender doing the proper actions on the circuit. After we have demonstrated that we’re really credible, then we want to show improvement from there on.”
Driver Lineup and Recruitment Push
In the summer they recruited Sergio Pérez and Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a duo remarkable for their vast knowledge in operating at the leading positions in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes-AMG, and Valtteri Bottas echoed the mood of fighting spirit.
“Naturally, we have a realistic outlook,” he commented. “We face a massive task to do, and it’s going to be almost certainly a difficult start, because it is F1. But our goal isn't to remain at the rear. I am confident with this setup, with these individuals, these people, there is every reason that we shouldn’t be able to progress rapidly up to the pace and achieve good results.”
To realize that ambition hiring has been in full swing, with personnel now up to more than 400 and intended to hit the goal of 600 members rapidly. Complementing their current base at the Silverstone circuit, the squad are in the process of completing an headquarters at Fishers, Indiana in Indy and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are developing the center to manufacture the power unit, planned for 2029 – until then they will use Ferrari engines – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Germany. It is a sophisticated organisation, contrary to the trend in Formula One for greater centralisation, and has prompted the fresh organizational mindset to which the CTO referred.
NASA Model
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo program,” said Lowdon ahead of the Silverstone race in mid-season. “We’re realistic, we understand how difficult it is. The timelines, they’re super, super, super short. OK, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have embraced, rather than the usual hierarchical system, a non-hierarchical approach comparable to that of the space agency's, where there were a range of specialist groups all focusing on distinct elements of the program across a multiple sites.
“In a system where you follow a procedure where a challenge emerges and they escalate it to their manager, that leader communicates with a manager in another department, it travels back down, it’s super slow,” explains the CTO. “So we empower team members to handle things directly. Eliminating managerial sign-off for everything is much smoother and faster.”
Upcoming Challenges
The efficacy of this agile strategy will be tested in the intensity of Grand Prix next season and there is a significant degree on the line for Formula One, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their test driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
