Approximately one year previously at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally granted the go-ahead as the world of Formula One's newest entry for 2026. Establishing the team from scratch has involved a frenetic operating tempo that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo moon landing. As the sport arrives on Las Vegas this race weekend, the team are aware the deadline is approaching.
The Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the season finale of the season to be held in the America, with just over three months to go before they hit the circuit 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 task, they are conscious there will never be enough hours in the day.
The CTO, Nick Chester, came aboard the newly formed operation in the spring of 2023 not long after it was established, when the squad were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its core ever since and enjoys a knowing grin when reflecting on the journey.
“There might be a short period reflecting at what you have accomplished and say: ‘Incredible, what an achievement what the team has created in a short three-year period,’” Chester states. “Then the very next instant you consider: ‘Yeah, we still have a great deal to do.’”
A Unique Opportunity
The CTO enjoyed success at Renault in the driver Fernando Alonso's title-winning seasons of 2005/2006 and was in command of technical direction at the recently formed Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no previous experience has quite compared with the challenge of launching the iconic American Cadillac name, a factory team supported by the parent company, GM, into Formula One.
“Establishing an Formula One team from nothing, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” Chester remarks. “There's nothing comparable. In an established team you won't have the chance to transform organizational mindset.”
With each day that goes by thoughts are more focused on the approaching moment of truth in Australia and targets are being set realistically.
“You have to assume that any incoming team entering the sport is likely to start at the back but merely participating will be an achievement in itself,” the team principal commented this year and while the CTO echoed this he felt the squad had a point to prove as well.
“The initial objective we aim to demonstrate is that we should be there,” he says. “So that we arrive and we perform competently. We seek to prove that we’re a proper team performing the correct procedures on the circuit. When we have demonstrated that we are a legitimate team, then we want to show improvement after that.”
Racing Talent and Hiring Push
In the summer they recruited Sergio Pérez and Valtteri as their racers for the 2026 season, a tandem remarkable for their invaluable experience in performing at the leading positions in two top-tier teams, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes, and Valtteri Bottas expressed the mood of fighting spirit.
“Naturally, we’re realistic,” he said. “There’s going to be a huge amount of work to do, and we expect probably a challenging beginning, because it is F1. But we aren't joining to stay at the back. I am confident with this setup, with this team, these personnel, there is every reason that we won't be able to advance swiftly to the front and taste victory.”
To realize that ambition staff acquisition has been in top gear, with employees now at in excess of 400 and scheduled to reach the goal of 600 members quickly. In addition to their existing facility at the Silverstone circuit, the organization are in the phase of building an headquarters at Fishers in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, where they are developing the plant to manufacture the 2029 engine, set for 2029 – in the meantime they will operate with Ferrari power units – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a intricate organisation, at odds with the movement in F1 for increased consolidation, and has prompted the new cultural approach to which Chester referred.
NASA Blueprint
“It's closely based on the Apollo program,” stated the team principal shortly before the British GP in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we recognize how difficult it is. The schedules, are incredibly tight. Well, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have adopted, instead of the traditional management structure, a decentralized management akin to that of Nasa’s, where there were a range of specialist groups all focusing on different aspects of the program in a different facilities.
“When you must follow a procedure where a challenge emerges and they report it to their team leader, that manager talks to a supervisor somewhere else, it travels back down, it’s super slow,” says the CTO. “So we empower team members to take charge. Moving away from hierarchical consent for all decisions is so much cleaner and faster.”
What Lies Ahead
The efficacy of this agile approach will be evaluated in the heat of competition next season and there is a considerable amount riding on this for F1, too. Cadillac have signed as their development driver the young Californian Colton Herta
