Just over one year in the past at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last awarded the green light as F1's newest entry for the 2026 season. Building the organization from scratch has involved a hectic operating tempo that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the NASA lunar mission. As the sport converges on Las Vegas this weekend, Cadillac know time is getting tight.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the season finale of the campaign to be staged in the America, with around three months to go before they hit the circuit for the first time in Australia at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a sisyphean task, they are aware there will never be enough hours in the day.
The CTO, Nick Chester, became part of the embryonic project in March 2023 not long after it was created, when the squad were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its center from that point and enjoys a amused expression when considering the experience.
“You can have a brief moment thinking back at what you have accomplished and go: ‘Wow, isn’t this fantastic what we’ve done in less than three years,’” Chester states. “And then the very next instant you think: ‘Yes, there is still a great deal to do.’”
An Unprecedented Task
Chester had success at the Renault team in Alonso's championship-winning years of 2005 and 2006 and was in charge of engineering strategy at the recently formed Mercedes electric racing team, but no other project has truly matched the challenge of bringing the quintessentially American Cadillac name, a works entry supported by the owner, General Motors Corporation, into F1.
“Creating an grand prix team from the ground up, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he says. “There's nothing comparable. In an established team you won't have the possibility to change organizational mindset.”
With each passing day that goes by minds are sharper on the looming critical moment in Melbourne and goals are being set realistically.
“One must presume that any new team joining the grid is probably going to finish last but simply getting on to the grid will be an feat in itself,” Graeme Lowdon stated recently and while Chester agreed with this sentiment he felt the team had a point to prove as well.
“Our primary goal we want to show is that we belong on the grid,” Chester explains. “So we show up and we operate well. We want to show that we’re a proper team doing the right things on the circuit. After we prove that we’re really credible, then we want to show forward movement from there on.”
Driver Lineup and Team Building Drive
In late summer they recruited Sergio Perez and Bottas as their racers for 2026, a pair remarkable for their vast knowledge in performing at the sharp end in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull and Mercedes-AMG, and Bottas expressed the mood of combative optimism.
“Naturally, we are pragmatic,” Bottas stated. “There’s going to be a massive task to do, and we expect probably a difficult start, because it is F1. But we aren't joining to stay at the back. I believe with this setup, with these individuals, these people, there’s no reason why we won't be able to advance swiftly to a competitive level and enjoy some success.”
To achieve that goal recruitment has been in full swing, with personnel now at over 400 and intended to hit the goal of 600 members swiftly. Complementing their present headquarters at the UK base, the organization are in the phase of building an HQ at Fishers, Indiana in Indy and there is the General Motors facility in North Carolina, where they are constructing the plant to build the power unit, set for the 2029 season – in the meantime they will operate with power from Ferrari – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a intricate organisation, at odds with the direction in Formula One for increased consolidation, and has led to the innovative team culture to which the CTO referred.
NASA Inspiration
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo project,” said Lowdon shortly before the British GP in July. “We’re realistic, we recognize how challenging it is. The timelines, are incredibly tight. Alright, it's not a space expedition, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have embraced, instead of the traditional management structure, a decentralized management akin to that of Nasa’s, where there were a variety of Apollo teams all working on distinct elements of the project at a multiple sites.
“In a system where you follow a process where a challenge emerges and they escalate it to their team leader, that manager communicates with a leader at a different location, it travels back down, the process is very slow,” explains Nick Chester. “Therefore we enable team members to handle things directly. Moving away from managerial sign-off for all decisions is far more efficient and more rapid.”
What Lies Ahead
The success of this flexible methodology will be tested in the pressure of racing when the season begins and there is a considerable amount riding on this for F1, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their test driver the young American Colton Herta
