Just over a full year in the past at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally awarded the go-ahead as Formula One’s latest participant for the 2026 season. Establishing the team from nothing has entailed a frenetic work rate that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo program. As the sport descends on the Vegas strip this race weekend, Cadillac know the deadline is approaching.
The Countdown to Australia
At the season finale of the season to be staged in the US, with just over three months to go before they make their debut for the maiden outing in Melbourne at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a monumental challenge, they are cognizant there will never be enough hours in the day.
The technical director, Nick Chester, came aboard the nascent team in March 2023 soon after it was formed, when the organization were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its heart ever since and has a knowing grin when thinking about the experience.
“You can have a short period looking back at what you’ve done and go: ‘Wow, how impressive what the team has created in a short three-year period,’” he says. “But then the very next instant you realize: ‘Yeah, we’ve still got a significant amount to do.’”
A Unique Task
Chester had success at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s championship-winning campaigns of 2005 and 2006 and was in control of technical direction at the recently formed Mercedes Formula E team, but no other project has truly matched the mission of launching the iconic American Cadillac marque, a factory team sponsored by the corporate entity, General Motors Corporation, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Building an grand prix team from nothing, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he observes. “It's unparalleled. In an existing team you rarely get the opportunity to change team culture.”
With every day that passes minds are increasingly concentrated on the approaching critical moment in Melbourne and goals are being handled.
“You have to assume that any incoming team coming in is likely to start at the back but simply getting on to the grid will be an feat in itself,” Graeme Lowdon stated this year and while Nick Chester agreed with this sentiment he believed the organization had a statement to make as well.
“The first thing we intend to prove is that we should be there,” he emphasizes. “So that we turn up and we perform competently. We want to show that we’re a proper team performing the proper actions on the race track. When we prove that we’re really credible, then we aim to demonstrate forward movement after that.”
Driver Lineup and Team Building Drive
In the summer they contracted Sergio Pérez and Bottas as their racers for the 2026 season, a tandem remarkable for their invaluable experience in competing at the sharp end in two of the sport’s biggest teams, the Red Bull team and Mercedes-AMG, and the Finnish driver expressed the attitude of fighting spirit.
“Of course, we’re realistic,” Bottas stated. “We face a mountain of work to do, and we expect most likely a tough opening, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we aren't joining to finish last. I am confident with this setup, with this team, these people, it's entirely possible we won't be able to get relatively quickly to the front and enjoy some success.”
To achieve that goal hiring has been in overdrive, with staff now up to more than 400 and intended to reach the goal of six hundred quickly. Alongside their existing facility at the UK base, the organization are in the midst of building an headquarters at the Fishers location in Indy and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are constructing the center to produce the power unit, set for 2029 – in the meantime they will operate with Ferrari engines – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a sophisticated organization, different from the movement in F1 for greater centralisation, and has led to the new cultural approach to which Chester referred to.
NASA Blueprint
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo program,” stated the team principal shortly before the Silverstone race in mid-season. “We have a clear-eyed view, we understand how challenging it is. The timelines, are extremely compressed. OK, it's not a space expedition, but it can seem that way.”
So they have implemented, rather than the conventional chain of command, a flat management structure akin to that of Nasa’s, where there were a assortment of specialist groups all tackling different aspects of the project in a variety of locations.
“If you have to go through a process where an issue arises and they escalate it to their team leader, that manager talks to a manager in another department, it is relayed back, the process is very slow,” says the CTO. “Therefore we enable team members to handle things directly. Eliminating hierarchical consent for each action is much smoother and faster.”
Upcoming Challenges
The effectiveness of this flexible approach will be tested in the pressure of racing when the season begins and there is no little amount at stake for Formula One, too. Cadillac have signed as their test driver the young Californian Colton Herta
