Just over twelve months previously at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last given the official approval as the world of Formula One's newest participant for the 2026 season. Constructing the squad from the ground up has involved a frenetic operating tempo that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo moon landing. As the sport descends on Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac understand the clock is ticking.
The Countdown to Australia
At the final race of the season to be held in the US, with around a hundred days to go before they take to the track for the first time in Australia at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a never-ending task, they are cognizant there will never be adequate time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, became part of the embryonic project in March 2023 shortly after it was formed, when the squad were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its core since then and has a knowing grin when considering the ride.
“There might be five minutes reflecting at what you have accomplished and think: ‘Incredible, what an achievement what we’ve done in less than three years,’” he notes. “Then the very next instant you consider: ‘Well, we still have a significant amount to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Opportunity
Nick Chester had success at the Renault team in the driver Fernando Alonso's championship-winning campaigns of 2005 and 2006 and was in charge of technical development at the recently formed Mercedes Formula E team, but nothing has been quite like the challenge of launching the iconic American Cadillac brand, a works entry backed by the parent company, General Motors Corporation, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Establishing an grand prix team from nothing, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he observes. “It is like nothing else. In an established team you rarely get the chance to transform team culture.”
With each passing day that goes by focus are sharper on the looming critical moment in Australia and goals are being managed.
“It's reasonable to expect that any incoming team joining the grid is going to be last but simply getting on to the grid will be an accomplishment in itself,” Lowdon stated earlier this year and while the CTO agreed with this sentiment he felt the squad had a statement to make as well.
“Our primary goal we want to show is that we deserve to be there,” he says. “So we show up and we function efficiently. We aim to demonstrate that we’re a proper team executing the correct procedures on the track. After we have demonstrated that we’re really credible, then we will focus on progression from there on.”
Racing Talent and Hiring Push
In the summer they recruited Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their pilots for 2026, a duo notable for their vast knowledge in performing at the front in two championship-winning squads, the Red Bull team and the Mercedes team, and the Finnish driver expressed the sentiment of fighting spirit.
“Naturally, we are pragmatic,” he commented. “We have a mountain of work to do, and we expect almost certainly a challenging beginning, because it is F1. But we’re not there to finish last. I am confident given this organization, with this group, this staff, there is every reason that we shouldn’t be able to advance swiftly to a competitive level and enjoy some success.”
To that end hiring has been in top gear, with staff now up to more than 400 and intended to attain the goal of six hundred quickly. In addition to their present headquarters at Silverstone, the organization are in the process of completing an headquarters at Fishers, Indiana in Indy and there is the GM works in North Carolina, where they are building the facility to manufacture the new engine, planned for 2029 – for now they will operate with Ferrari power units – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Germany. It is a intricate organization, contrary to the direction in F1 for increased consolidation, and has prompted the innovative team culture to which the CTO alluded.
Apollo Blueprint
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo program,” stated Graeme Lowdon shortly before the Silverstone race in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we understand how tough it is. The deadlines, they’re super, super, super short. OK, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it can seem that way.”
So they have adopted, instead of the usual hierarchical system, a decentralized management comparable to that of the space agency's, where there were a variety of project teams all working on distinct elements of the mission at a different facilities.
“When you must follow a protocol where an issue arises and they raise it up to their manager, that supervisor consults a leader in another department, it is relayed back, it’s super slow,” notes Chester. “So we empower staff to really get on with it. Avoiding managerial sign-off for everything is much smoother and more rapid.”
The Future
The success of this flexible methodology will be tested in the heat of competition next season and there is a significant degree on the line for Formula One, too. Cadillac have taken on as their development driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
