Just over one year previously at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally granted the green light as the world of Formula One's newest entry for the 2026 season. Constructing the squad from the ground up has involved a frenetic work rate that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo moon landing. As Formula One arrives on the Vegas strip this weekend, the team know the clock is ticking.
The Race Against Time to Australia
At the last event of the campaign to be staged in the US, with around 100 days to go before they make their debut for the maiden outing in Melbourne at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a sisyphean endeavor, they are conscious there will never be enough hours in the day.
The CTO, Nick Chester, came aboard the newly formed project in the spring of 2023 not long after it was established, when the team were without even an approved entry. He has been at its center from that point and enjoys a amused expression when thinking about the ride.
“There might be a short period looking back at what the team has achieved and think: ‘Amazing, how impressive what we have built in under three years,’” he notes. “But then the following moment you consider: ‘Yes, we still have a great deal to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Task
Chester achieved victories at the Renault team in the driver Fernando Alonso's victorious years of 2005/2006 and was in control of engineering strategy at the recently formed Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no previous experience has been quite like the task of introducing the all-American Cadillac marque, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the corporate entity, General Motors Corporation, into F1.
“Creating an Formula One team from nothing, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he observes. “It's unparalleled. In an well-set team you don’t get the chance to change team culture.”
With every day that elapses focus are more focused on the impending critical moment in Melbourne and targets are being set realistically.
“One must presume that any incoming team coming in is likely to start at the back but just making it to the starting line will be an achievement in itself,” Graeme Lowdon noted earlier this year and while Chester agreed with this sentiment he believed the team had a statement to make as well.
“Our primary goal we intend to prove is that we deserve to be there,” Chester explains. “So that we show up and we function efficiently. We aim to demonstrate that this is a professional operation doing the correct procedures on the track. After we’ve shown that we are a legitimate team, then we will focus on progression from there on.”
Driver Lineup and Recruitment Effort
In August they recruited Sergio Perez and Bottas as their pilots for 2026, a pair distinguished for their priceless expertise in performing at the leading positions in two top-tier teams, Red Bull Racing and the Mercedes team, and Valtteri Bottas reflected the sentiment of combative optimism.
“Certainly, we are pragmatic,” he said. “We face a massive task to do, and it’s going to be most likely a difficult start, because it is F1. But we’re not there to finish last. I am confident given this organization, with these individuals, this staff, it's entirely possible we shouldn’t be able to get relatively quickly up to the pace and taste victory.”
To that end staff acquisition has been in full swing, with employees now up to more than 400 and planned to attain the objective of six hundred swiftly. In addition to their present headquarters at Silverstone, the team are in the phase of completing an headquarters at Fishers, Indiana in Indy and there is the General Motors facility in North Carolina, where they are developing the center to build the 2029 engine, scheduled for 2029 – for now they will use Ferrari engines – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Germany. It is a sophisticated organisation, at odds with the trend in the sport for more centralization, and has led to the fresh organizational mindset to which Nick Chester referred to.
NASA Blueprint
“It's closely based on the Apollo project,” said the team principal shortly before the Silverstone race in July. “We are pragmatic, 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 the pressure is comparable.”
So they have implemented, as opposed to the conventional chain of command, a flat management structure akin to that of NASA's, where there were a variety of Apollo teams all tackling various components of the program at a different facilities.
“If you have to go through a process where someone has a problem and they report it to their manager, that manager talks to a manager in another department, it goes back down the chain, the process is very slow,” says the CTO. “So we empower people to handle things directly. Avoiding management approval for each action is much smoother and quicker.”
Upcoming Challenges
The effectiveness of this flexible approach will be evaluated in the pressure of racing in 2026 and there is a considerable amount at stake for Formula One, too. Cadillac have recruited as their development driver the young Californian Colton Herta
