Approximately twelve months in the past at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were ultimately given the green light as the world of Formula One's most recent entrant for 2026. Constructing the team from the ground up has required a hectic operating tempo that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the NASA lunar mission. As Formula One converges on the Vegas strip this weekend, Cadillac understand the deadline is approaching.
The Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the final race of the championship to be held in the US, with just over 100 days to go before they hit the circuit for the inaugural time in Australia at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a monumental challenge, they are cognizant there will not be adequate time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, joined the nascent project in the spring of 2023 soon after it was formed, when the team were without even an official entry. He has been at its center ever since and gets a amused expression when thinking about the journey.
“There might be five minutes thinking back at what the team has achieved and think: ‘Wow, how impressive what the team has created in a short three-year period,’” he notes. “Then the very next instant you think: ‘Yeah, we’ve still got quite a lot to do.’”
A Unique Task
Nick Chester had success at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s title-winning years of the mid-2000s and was in charge of technical development at the new Mercedes Formula E team, but no previous experience has truly matched the task of launching the all-American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry backed by the owner, GM, into Formula One.
“Creating an F1 team from scratch, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he says. “There's nothing comparable. In an well-set team you won't have the chance to alter organizational mindset.”
With every day that elapses minds are sharper on the impending moment of truth in the Australian GP and goals are being managed.
“It's reasonable to expect that any incoming team joining the grid is probably going to finish last but simply getting on to the grid will be an feat in itself,” Graeme Lowdon commented recently and while the CTO echoed this he felt the team had a reputation to build as well.
“Our primary goal we aim to demonstrate is that we deserve to be there,” he says. “So we turn up and we perform competently. We seek to prove that this is a professional operation executing the proper actions on the track. Once we’ve shown that we are a legitimate team, then we aim to demonstrate improvement after that.”
Driver Lineup and Recruitment Drive
In the summer they contracted Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas as their racers for the 2026 season, a duo distinguished for their invaluable experience in operating at the leading positions in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes-AMG, and Valtteri Bottas echoed the attitude of combative optimism.
“Naturally, we’re realistic,” Bottas stated. “There’s going to be a mountain of work to do, and we expect most likely a challenging beginning, because this is Formula One. But we aren't joining to remain at the rear. I believe with this structure, with this group, this staff, there is every reason that we shouldn’t be able to get relatively quickly up to the pace and taste victory.”
To realize that ambition hiring has been in top gear, with employees now up to over 400 and planned to reach the target of six hundred swiftly. Complementing their existing facility at the Silverstone circuit, the organization are in the midst of building an HQ at Fishers in Indy and there is the GM works in North Carolina, where they are constructing the center to build the new engine, scheduled for 2029 – until then they will use power from Ferrari – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a complex structure, different from the movement in F1 for more centralization, and has led to the innovative team culture to which the CTO referred.
Space Mission Blueprint
“It’s highly modelled on the NASA moon mission,” remarked Graeme Lowdon ahead of the British Grand Prix in mid-season. “We’re realistic, we understand how difficult it is. The timelines, are incredibly tight. Well, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have implemented, rather than the traditional management structure, a non-hierarchical approach akin to that of NASA's, where there were a variety of Apollo teams all focusing on distinct elements of the program across a multiple sites.
“In a system where you follow a protocol where someone has a problem and they raise it up to their supervisor, that supervisor communicates with a leader somewhere else, it goes back down the chain, it becomes inefficient,” says Chester. “So we empower team members to really get on with it. Eliminating management approval for each action is so much cleaner and faster.”
The Future
The efficacy of this flexible methodology will be evaluated in the pressure of racing next season and there is a significant degree on the line for F1, too. Cadillac have recruited as their reserve driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
