A little more than a full year previously at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally given the official approval as the world of Formula One's most recent entry for 2026. Constructing the team from nothing has involved a intense pace of work that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo moon landing. As F1 descends on Las Vegas this race weekend, the team are aware the deadline is approaching.
The Race Against Time to Australia
At the season finale of the season to be hosted in the United States, with approximately three months to go before they hit the circuit for the maiden outing in Australia at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a sisyphean challenge, they are aware there will never be sufficient time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, joined the newly formed operation in early 2023 not long after it was created, when the team were without even an official entry. He has been at its heart since then and gets a knowing grin when considering the journey.
“There might be a brief moment thinking back at what you have accomplished and think: ‘Wow, isn’t this fantastic what we have built in less than three years,’” he notes. “And then the next minute you realize: ‘Yes, we’ve still got a significant amount to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Task
Nick Chester achieved victories at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s title-winning years of 2005 and 2006 and was in charge of technical development at the then-new Mercedes Formula E team, but no previous experience has truly matched the task of bringing the quintessentially American Cadillac brand, a manufacturer-backed entry backed by the owner, General Motors Corporation, into Formula One.
“Creating an Formula One team from the ground up, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he observes. “It's unparalleled. In an well-set team you won't have the opportunity to transform cultural approach.”
With each day that elapses minds are increasingly concentrated on the impending critical moment in Australia and expectations are being managed.
“One must presume that any incoming team entering the sport is going to be last but simply getting on to the grid will be an accomplishment in itself,” Graeme Lowdon commented this year and while Chester agreed with this sentiment he believed the squad had a reputation to build as well.
“Our primary goal we aim to demonstrate is that we should be there,” he emphasizes. “So that we show up and we operate well. We want to show that we’re a proper team doing the correct procedures on the race track. Once we prove that we are a legitimate team, then we want to show progression subsequently.”
Racing Talent and Recruitment Drive
In late summer they contracted Sergio Perez and Valtteri as their drivers for the 2026 season, a tandem remarkable for their vast knowledge in competing at the sharp end in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull and Mercedes, and the Finnish driver reflected the mood of determined optimism.
“Of course, we are pragmatic,” he commented. “We face a massive task to do, and it will likely be almost certainly a tough opening, because it's the top level of motorsport. But our goal isn't to finish last. I am confident given this organization, with this group, this staff, there’s no reason why we won't be able to progress rapidly up to the pace and achieve good results.”
To achieve that goal hiring has been in overdrive, with personnel now up to more than 400 and scheduled to reach the target of six hundred rapidly. Alongside their existing facility at the UK base, the organization are in the midst of building an main base at Fishers in Indianapolis and there is the GM works in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are developing the center to manufacture the power unit, planned for 2029 – until then they will use power from Ferrari – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Germany. It is a sophisticated organisation, contrary to the movement in Formula One for more centralization, and has led to the fresh organizational mindset to which the CTO referred.
NASA Blueprint
“It's closely based on the NASA moon mission,” stated Lowdon just before the Silverstone race in the summer. “We are pragmatic, we know how challenging it is. The deadlines, are extremely compressed. Alright, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it can seem that way.”
So they have implemented, rather than the traditional management structure, a flat management structure comparable to that of the space agency's, where there were a variety of Apollo teams all focusing on distinct elements of the project across a variety of locations.
“In a system where you follow a process where a challenge emerges and they raise it up to their supervisor, that leader communicates with a supervisor in another department, it is relayed back, it becomes inefficient,” notes Nick Chester. “So we empower staff to really get on with it. Moving away from managerial sign-off for all decisions is much smoother and faster.”
Upcoming Challenges
The effectiveness of this agile strategy will be evaluated in the intensity of Grand Prix next season and there is a considerable amount on the line for the sport, too. Cadillac have recruited as their development driver the young American Colton Herta
