A little more than a full year in the past at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were ultimately granted the official approval as the world of Formula One's latest entrant for the 2026 season. Building the team from scratch has required a intense pace of work that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo program. As Formula One converges on Vegas this weekend, the team are aware the deadline is approaching.
The Race Against Time to Australia
At the season finale of the season to be staged in the America, with approximately three months to go before they make their debut for the maiden outing in Melbourne at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a sisyphean endeavor, they are cognizant there will never be enough hours in the day.
The CTO, Nick Chester, became part of the embryonic operation in the spring of 2023 shortly after it was created, when the organization were without even an approved entry. He has been at its heart ever since and enjoys a knowing grin when considering the experience.
“You can have five minutes reflecting at what the team has achieved and say: ‘Incredible, how impressive what the team has created in under three years,’” Chester states. “Then the very next instant you realize: ‘Well, we’ve still got quite a lot to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Opportunity
Chester enjoyed success at Renault in Alonso's title-winning years of the mid-2000s and was in charge of technical development at the new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no previous experience has truly matched the task of launching the iconic American Cadillac brand, a manufacturer-backed entry backed by the parent company, GM, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Establishing an Formula One team from scratch, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” Chester remarks. “It's unparalleled. In an existing team you won't have the opportunity to alter organizational mindset.”
With each passing day that elapses thoughts are more focused on the impending critical moment in the Australian GP and expectations are being handled.
“You have to assume that any new team joining the grid is likely to start at the back but merely participating will be an achievement in itself,” the team principal commented recently and while the CTO agreed with this sentiment he felt the team had a reputation to build as well.
“Our primary goal we aim to demonstrate is that we should be there,” he emphasizes. “So we show up and we function efficiently. We seek to prove that we are a serious contender executing the right things on the race track. After we have demonstrated that we are a legitimate team, then we aim to demonstrate forward movement subsequently.”
Pilot Selection and Hiring Drive
In August they signed Checo Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their pilots for the 2026 season, a tandem distinguished for their vast knowledge in operating at the leading positions in two top-tier teams, the Red Bull team and the Mercedes team, and Bottas expressed the mood of combative optimism.
“Of course, we have a realistic outlook,” Bottas stated. “We have a mountain of work to do, and it will likely be probably a tough opening, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we’re not there to stay at the back. I believe with this setup, with these individuals, this staff, there is every reason that we won't be able to advance swiftly to the front and enjoy some success.”
To realize that ambition recruitment has been in top gear, with personnel now reaching more than 400 and planned to hit the goal of 600 swiftly. Complementing their present headquarters at Silverstone, the organization are in the phase of building an headquarters at Fishers, Indiana in Indy and there is the GM works in North Carolina, where they are building the plant to build the 2029 engine, scheduled for 2029 – in the meantime they will run Ferrari engines – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a intricate structure, contrary to the movement in Formula One for increased consolidation, and has prompted the innovative team culture to which Chester alluded.
Space Mission Model
“We've drawn heavily from the NASA moon mission,” said Graeme Lowdon ahead of the British Grand Prix in July. “We are pragmatic, we know how tough it is. The schedules, are incredibly tight. OK, it's not a space expedition, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have implemented, instead of the conventional chain of command, a non-hierarchical approach akin to that of Nasa’s, where there were a range of Apollo teams all working on distinct elements of the project at a different facilities.
“In a system where you follow a procedure where someone has a problem and they report it to their manager, that supervisor talks to a leader somewhere else, it goes back down the chain, it’s super slow,” notes the CTO. “Therefore we enable team members to handle things directly. Moving away from management approval for each action is far more efficient and quicker.”
Upcoming Challenges
The success of this agile approach will be proven in the pressure of racing next season and there is a considerable amount on the line for Formula One, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their reserve driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
