Just over a full year ago at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were ultimately granted the go-ahead as the world of Formula One's most recent entry for the 2026 season. Constructing the team from the ground up has required a intense operating tempo that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the NASA lunar mission. As F1 arrives on Las Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac know time is getting tight.
The Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the last event of the season to be held in the US, with around 100 days to go before they take to the track for the maiden outing in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have made significant progress 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 newly formed team in early 2023 soon after it was established, when the team were without even an official entry. He has been at its core from that point and gets a wry smile when considering the ride.
“There might be five minutes looking back at what you have accomplished and say: ‘Amazing, isn’t this fantastic what we’ve done in less than three years,’” Chester states. “And then the next minute you think: ‘Well, we’ve still got a great deal to do.’”
A Unique Challenge
Nick Chester enjoyed success at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s title-winning years of the mid-2000s and was in command of engineering strategy at the new Mercedes Formula E team, but no previous experience has truly matched the task of launching the iconic American Cadillac marque, a works entry backed by the corporate entity, General Motors Corporation, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Establishing an F1 team from scratch, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” Chester remarks. “It is like nothing else. In an established team you rarely get the opportunity to transform cultural approach.”
With every day that goes by thoughts are sharper on the approaching moment of truth in Melbourne and goals are being set realistically.
“One must presume that a brand-new squad entering the sport is going to be last but just making it to the starting line will be an achievement in itself,” Graeme Lowdon stated recently and while Nick Chester echoed this he felt the squad had a reputation to build as well.
“Our primary goal we aim to demonstrate is that we should be there,” he says. “So that we arrive and we function efficiently. We want to show that we are a serious contender performing the right things on the circuit. When we’ve shown that our credentials are solid, then we will focus on progression after that.”
Racing Talent and Team Building Push
In August they signed Checo Pérez and Valtteri as their racers for the 2026 season, a duo distinguished for their vast knowledge in competing at the front in two championship-winning squads, the Red Bull team and the Mercedes team, and Bottas echoed the sentiment of combative optimism.
“Of course, we have a realistic outlook,” Bottas stated. “There’s going to be a mountain of work to do, and we expect probably a difficult start, because this is Formula One. But we’re not there to finish last. In my view with this setup, with this group, these personnel, there’s no reason why we won't be able to progress rapidly to a competitive level and achieve good results.”
To realize that ambition recruitment has been in overdrive, with staff now at in excess of 400 and intended to reach the target of 600 members rapidly. Complementing their existing facility at Silverstone, the organization are in the midst of building an headquarters at the Fishers location in Indy and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are developing the plant to manufacture the 2029 engine, planned for 2029 – in the meantime they will use Ferrari power units – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne. It is a complex structure, at odds with the movement in Formula One for increased consolidation, and has inspired the new cultural approach to which the CTO alluded.
Apollo Blueprint
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo project,” said the team principal shortly before the Silverstone race in July. “We’re realistic, we know how tough it is. The timelines, are incredibly tight. Alright, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have implemented, instead of the conventional chain of command, a flat management structure similar to that of Nasa’s, where there were a assortment of Apollo teams all working on different aspects of the project at a multiple sites.
“If you have to go through a protocol where someone has a problem and they report it to their supervisor, that supervisor consults a leader somewhere else, it is relayed back, the process is very slow,” notes Chester. “We give authority to staff to take charge. Avoiding management approval for everything is much smoother and quicker.”
The Future
The efficacy of this agile methodology will be proven in the heat of competition in 2026 and there is no little amount at stake for the sport, too. Cadillac have recruited as their reserve driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta
