Approximately a full year ago at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last granted the official approval as Formula One’s newest entry for 2026. Building the squad from nothing has required a intense work rate that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo moon landing. As F1 arrives on the Vegas strip this weekend, Cadillac know the clock is ticking.
The Countdown to Australia
At the last event of the season to be staged in the America, with around three months to go before they take to the track for the first time in Melbourne at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a never-ending challenge, they are cognizant there will never be enough hours in the day.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, became part of the nascent operation in the spring of 2023 shortly after it was established, when the team were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its heart since then and enjoys a wry smile when thinking about the ride.
“You might get a brief moment thinking back at what you have accomplished and say: ‘Wow, how impressive what we’ve done in under three years,’” Chester states. “Then the very next instant you realize: ‘Yes, there is still quite a lot to do.’”
A Unique Opportunity
Chester had success at the Renault team in the driver Fernando Alonso's victorious seasons of the mid-2000s and was in command of technical direction at the new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no previous experience has quite compared with the mission of bringing the quintessentially American Cadillac brand, a manufacturer-backed entry backed by the parent company, General Motors Corporation, into Formula One.
“Establishing an grand prix team from nothing, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he says. “It is like nothing else. In an established team you rarely get the opportunity to change organizational mindset.”
With each day that goes by thoughts are increasingly concentrated on the impending critical moment in Melbourne and goals are being managed.
“It's reasonable to expect that any new team entering the sport is likely to start at the back but just making it to the starting line will be an achievement in itself,” Graeme Lowdon noted this year and while Chester shared this view he believed the organization had a point to prove as well.
“Our primary goal we aim to demonstrate is that we deserve to be there,” he says. “In order that we arrive and we function efficiently. We aim to demonstrate that we are a serious contender performing the correct procedures on the race track. After we’ve shown that our credentials are solid, then we will focus on improvement after that.”
Racing Talent and Hiring Push
In late summer they signed Sergio Pérez and Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a pair distinguished for their invaluable experience in performing at the sharp end in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull Racing and the Mercedes team, and the Finnish driver reflected the attitude of determined optimism.
“Of course, we’re realistic,” he said. “We face a massive task to do, and it’s going to be probably a challenging beginning, because it is F1. But our goal isn't to finish last. I believe with this structure, with these individuals, this staff, there’s no reason why we won't be able to advance swiftly to a competitive level and taste victory.”
To achieve that goal recruitment has been in overdrive, with staff now at over 400 and planned to attain the target of 600 members rapidly. In addition to their current base at the Silverstone circuit, the team are in the midst of building an HQ at Fishers in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are constructing the plant to build the 2029 engine, scheduled for 2029 – in the meantime they will operate with Ferrari engines – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a complex structure, contrary to the trend in the sport for more centralization, and has inspired the innovative team culture to which Nick Chester referred.
Space Mission Inspiration
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo project,” stated Graeme Lowdon ahead of the British Grand Prix in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we recognize how difficult it is. The deadlines, they’re super, super, super short. OK, it's not a space expedition, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have embraced, rather than the usual hierarchical system, a decentralized management akin to that of the space agency's, where there were a range of Apollo teams all tackling distinct elements of the program across a multiple sites.
“If you have to go through a process where an issue arises and they raise it up to their manager, that supervisor communicates with a supervisor in another department, it travels back down, the process is very slow,” says Chester. “Therefore we enable team members to really get on with it. Moving away from managerial sign-off for each action is so much cleaner and more rapid.”
Upcoming Challenges
The effectiveness of this agile methodology will be evaluated in the pressure of racing next season and there is a considerable amount on the line for Formula One, too. Cadillac have recruited as their test driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
