Approximately a full year ago at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were ultimately given the green light as the world of Formula One's latest entrant for the 2026 season. Establishing the squad from the ground up has required a hectic operating tempo that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo moon landing. As F1 descends on Las Vegas this race weekend, the team understand the deadline is approaching.
The Race Against Time to Australia
At the season finale of the championship to be held in the United States, with around three months to go before they make their debut for the first time in Australia at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a never-ending task, they are cognizant there will not be sufficient time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, came aboard the embryonic project in early 2023 not long after it was established, when the organization were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its heart from that point and gets a knowing grin when considering the ride.
“You might get a short period looking back at what you’ve done and go: ‘Amazing, isn’t this fantastic what the team has created in under three years,’” he notes. “And then the next minute you think: ‘Yes, there is still quite a lot to do.’”
A Unique Task
Chester enjoyed success at Renault in the driver Fernando Alonso's title-winning years of 2005/2006 and was in charge of technical development at the new Mercedes Formula E team, but no other project has been quite like the task of bringing the iconic American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry sponsored by the parent company, GM, into Formula One.
“Creating an F1 team from scratch, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he says. “It's unparalleled. In an well-set team you don’t get the chance to change team culture.”
With each passing day that elapses minds are increasingly concentrated on the looming decisive point in Melbourne and targets are being handled.
“It's reasonable to expect that any new team joining the grid is probably going to finish last but simply getting on to the grid will be an achievement in itself,” Graeme Lowdon noted recently and while the CTO shared this view he felt the squad had a reputation to build as well.
“The initial objective we aim to demonstrate is that we should be there,” Chester explains. “So that we turn up and we operate well. We want to show that this is a professional operation performing the proper actions on the track. After we’ve shown that our credentials are solid, then we aim to demonstrate forward movement subsequently.”
Driver Lineup and Team Building Push
In August they contracted Checo Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their drivers for the 2026 season, a duo remarkable for their vast knowledge in performing at the leading positions in two top-tier teams, Red Bull and Mercedes-AMG, and the Finnish driver expressed the sentiment of combative optimism.
“Certainly, we are pragmatic,” Bottas stated. “We face a massive task to do, and we expect probably a tough opening, because this is Formula One. But our goal isn't to remain at the rear. I believe with this setup, with this group, these personnel, there’s no reason why we won't be able to progress rapidly to the front and taste victory.”
To achieve that goal hiring has been in full swing, with employees now at over 400 and planned to attain the goal of 600 rapidly. Complementing their existing facility at Silverstone, the organization are in the phase of finishing an headquarters at Fishers, Indiana in the Indianapolis area and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are building the center to produce the new engine, planned for 2029 – in the meantime they will run Ferrari power units – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a intricate organisation, contrary to the movement in the sport for increased consolidation, and has led to the new cultural approach to which Nick Chester referred.
NASA Inspiration
“It's closely based on the Apollo program,” remarked the team principal shortly before the Silverstone race in mid-season. “We’re realistic, we know how tough it is. The schedules, are incredibly tight. Well, it's not a space expedition, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have adopted, as opposed to the conventional chain of command, a flat management structure akin to that of NASA's, where there were a variety of project teams all focusing on different aspects of the mission at a variety of locations.
“In a system where you follow a process where an issue arises and they report it to their supervisor, that manager communicates with a manager somewhere else, it travels back down, the process is very slow,” says Nick Chester. “Therefore we enable team members to handle things directly. Avoiding managerial sign-off for each action is so much cleaner and faster.”
The Future
The efficacy of this agile approach will be evaluated in the intensity of Grand Prix when the season begins and there is no little amount riding on this for the sport, too. Cadillac have signed as their test driver the young American Colton Herta
