Approximately a full year previously at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally granted the official approval as the world of Formula One's newest participant for 2026. Establishing the organization from the ground up has involved a frenetic operating tempo that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo moon landing. As Formula One descends on Las Vegas this race weekend, the team are aware the clock is ticking.
The Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the final race of the season to be held in the America, with around a hundred days to go before they hit the circuit for the maiden outing in Australia at the first race of 2026, the Cadillac F1 project have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a monumental endeavor, they are cognizant there will never be enough hours in the day.
The technical director, Nick Chester, came aboard the nascent project in March 2023 shortly after it was created, when the squad were without even an approved entry. He has been at its core from that point and gets a wry smile when reflecting on the ride.
“You can have a short period reflecting at what the team has achieved and think: ‘Incredible, how impressive what we’ve done in under three years,’” he says. “And then the next minute you think: ‘Yeah, there is still quite a lot to do.’”
A Unique Task
Nick Chester achieved victories at Renault in the driver Fernando Alonso's victorious campaigns of 2005 and 2006 and was in charge of technical development at the then-new Mercedes electric racing team, but no previous experience has been quite like the task of launching the all-American Cadillac brand, a factory team supported by the owner, General Motors Corporation, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Establishing an Formula One team from the ground up, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he says. “It's unparalleled. In an established team you rarely get the possibility to alter organizational mindset.”
With every day that passes focus are sharper on the approaching decisive point in Australia and expectations are being set realistically.
“You have to assume that a brand-new squad joining the grid is likely to start at the back but merely participating will be an feat in itself,” Lowdon stated earlier this year and while Chester shared this view he thought the team had a reputation to build as well.
“Our primary goal we intend to prove is that we should be there,” Chester explains. “So we show up and we operate well. We seek to prove that we’re a proper team doing the proper actions on the track. When we have demonstrated that we are a legitimate team, then we want to show improvement after that.”
Racing Talent and Hiring Push
In late summer they contracted Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a duo distinguished for their invaluable experience in operating at the sharp end in two top-tier teams, the Red Bull team and Mercedes, and Bottas expressed the mood of determined optimism.
“Of course, we have a realistic outlook,” Bottas stated. “We have a mountain of work to do, and we expect almost certainly a tough opening, because this is Formula One. But we’re not there to stay at the back. I am confident with this setup, with these individuals, this staff, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to progress rapidly to the front and achieve good results.”
To realize that ambition recruitment has been in full swing, with personnel now at more than 400 and planned to reach the target of 600 quickly. Complementing their existing facility at the Silverstone circuit, the organization are in the process of building an HQ at Fishers in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are building the facility to manufacture the new engine, scheduled for 2029 – for now they will use power from Ferrari – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne. It is a intricate organisation, at odds with the trend in the sport for more centralization, and has inspired the fresh organizational mindset to which the CTO referred.
Apollo Blueprint
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo program,” remarked Lowdon ahead of the British GP in July. “We are pragmatic, we recognize how difficult it is. The timelines, are incredibly tight. OK, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it can seem that way.”
So they have implemented, instead of the conventional chain of command, a non-hierarchical approach similar to that of the space agency's, where there were a range of project teams all working on distinct elements of the program across a variety of locations.
“When you must follow a procedure where an issue arises and they raise it up to their manager, that leader consults a supervisor at a different location, it goes back down the chain, it’s super slow,” notes Chester. “So we empower team members to really get on with it. Moving away from hierarchical consent for each action is so much cleaner and more rapid.”
Upcoming Challenges
The efficacy of this agile approach will be tested in the pressure of racing next season and there is a significant degree riding on this for the sport, too. Cadillac have recruited as their development driver the young Californian Colton Herta
