A little more than one year in the past at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last given the go-ahead as the world of Formula One's latest entry for the 2026 season. Building the team from scratch has required a hectic work rate that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo moon landing. As F1 arrives on Las Vegas this race weekend, the team are aware the deadline is approaching.
The Countdown to Australia
At the last event of the championship to be hosted in the US, with around 100 days to go before they make their debut for the maiden outing in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a sisyphean task, they are aware there will not be adequate time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, came aboard the newly formed operation in early 2023 soon after it was formed, when the squad were without even an official entry. He has been at its heart ever since and enjoys a amused expression when thinking about the journey.
“You can have a short period thinking back at what you have accomplished and say: ‘Amazing, isn’t this fantastic what we’ve done in a short three-year period,’” he says. “Then the following moment you realize: ‘Well, there is still quite a lot to do.’”
A Unique Task
Nick Chester achieved victories at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s title-winning 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 mission of introducing the all-American Cadillac marque, a manufacturer-backed entry sponsored by the owner, GM, into Formula One.
“Building an Formula One team from scratch, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he observes. “It is like nothing else. In an established team you rarely get the possibility to transform organizational mindset.”
With each day that goes by minds are more focused on the approaching moment of truth in Melbourne and expectations are being set realistically.
“One must presume that a brand-new squad coming in is probably going to finish last but simply getting on to the grid will be an achievement in itself,” the team principal noted recently and while Nick Chester echoed this he thought the team had a point to prove as well.
“The first thing we aim to demonstrate is that we deserve to be there,” he says. “So that we turn up and we operate well. We aim to demonstrate that we’re a proper team executing the proper actions on the race track. Once we prove that we are a legitimate team, then we want to show progression from there on.”
Racing Talent and Team Building Effort
In August they signed Checo Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a pair notable for their invaluable experience in performing at the sharp end in two top-tier teams, Red Bull and the Mercedes team, and Valtteri Bottas expressed the mood of fighting spirit.
“Naturally, we’re realistic,” Bottas stated. “There’s going to be a massive task to do, and it will likely be almost certainly a difficult start, because it is F1. But we aren't joining to remain at the rear. I am confident with this structure, with this team, this staff, there is every reason that we can't manage to progress rapidly up to the pace and taste victory.”
To achieve that goal hiring has been in full swing, with employees now reaching more than 400 and scheduled to hit the target of six hundred rapidly. Complementing their present headquarters at Silverstone, the squad are in the midst of finishing an headquarters at Fishers in Indianapolis and there is the GM works in North Carolina, where they are building the center to produce the 2029 engine, set for 2029 – for now they will use Ferrari engines – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne, Germany. It is a complex organisation, at odds with the trend in Formula One for increased consolidation, and has prompted the innovative team culture to which Chester referred to.
Space Mission Model
“It's closely based on the NASA moon mission,” said Lowdon ahead of the Silverstone race in July. “We are pragmatic, we know how difficult it is. The timelines, are incredibly tight. Alright, it's not a space expedition, but it can seem that way.”
So they have adopted, instead of the traditional management structure, a non-hierarchical approach comparable to that of NASA's, where there were a variety of specialist groups all focusing on distinct elements of the mission across a different facilities.
“In a system where you follow a protocol where a challenge emerges and they raise it up to their supervisor, that supervisor communicates with a supervisor somewhere else, it is relayed back, it becomes inefficient,” explains Nick Chester. “We give authority to team members to handle things directly. Eliminating managerial sign-off for each action is far more efficient and faster.”
Upcoming Challenges
The success of this agile approach will be proven in the intensity of Grand Prix when the season begins and there is no little amount at stake for F1, too. Cadillac have recruited as their reserve driver the young American Colton Herta
