Approximately one year in the past at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally awarded the go-ahead as Formula One’s most recent participant for the 2026 season. Constructing the squad from the ground up has required a frenetic pace of work that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo moon landing. As Formula One descends on the Vegas strip this weekend, Cadillac understand the clock is ticking.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the final race of the season to be staged in the United States, with around 100 days to go before they make their debut for the first time in Melbourne at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a never-ending task, they are cognizant there will not be sufficient time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, became part of the nascent operation in March 2023 not long after it was established, when the team were without even an approved entry. He has been at its heart since then and enjoys a knowing grin when considering the experience.
“You might get a short period reflecting at what you have accomplished and go: ‘Wow, what an achievement what we’ve done in a short three-year period,’” Chester states. “Then the next minute you think: ‘Yes, we still have quite a lot to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Challenge
Nick Chester had success at Renault in Alonso's championship-winning campaigns of 2005/2006 and was in charge of technical development at the then-new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no previous experience has truly matched the challenge of bringing the iconic American Cadillac name, a factory team sponsored by the corporate entity, GM, into Formula One.
“Establishing an F1 team from scratch, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” Chester remarks. “It is like nothing else. In an existing team you don’t get the chance to change team culture.”
With each day that passes minds are increasingly concentrated on the approaching critical moment in Melbourne and targets are being set realistically.
“It's reasonable to expect that any incoming team entering the sport is probably going to finish last but simply getting on to the grid will be an achievement in itself,” Graeme Lowdon commented this year and while Chester echoed this he thought the organization had a statement to make as well.
“The initial objective we want to show is that we belong on the grid,” Chester explains. “So we turn up and we function efficiently. We seek to prove that we are a serious contender performing the right things on the track. Once we’ve shown that we are a legitimate team, then we will focus on improvement from there on.”
Racing Talent and Team Building Drive
In late summer they contracted Checo Pérez and Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a tandem distinguished for their vast knowledge in performing at the leading positions in two top-tier teams, the Red Bull team and Mercedes-AMG, and Bottas expressed the mood of determined optimism.
“Of course, we have a realistic outlook,” Bottas stated. “We have a massive task to do, and it’s going to be almost certainly a tough opening, because this is Formula One. But our goal isn't to remain at the rear. In my view with this structure, with this group, these people, it's entirely possible we won't be able to progress rapidly to a competitive level and taste victory.”
To achieve that goal recruitment has been in overdrive, with staff now at more than 400 and planned to reach the objective of 600 members quickly. Alongside their present headquarters at the UK base, the organization are in the process of completing an headquarters at Fishers in Indy and there is the General Motors facility in North Carolina, where they are building the center to manufacture the power unit, scheduled for 2029 – for now they will use Ferrari engines – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a sophisticated organization, contrary to the direction in Formula One for more centralization, and has inspired the new cultural approach to which the CTO referred.
Space Mission Blueprint
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo program,” stated Graeme Lowdon shortly before the British Grand Prix in mid-season. “We have a clear-eyed view, we recognize how difficult it is. The schedules, they’re super, super, super short. Alright, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it feels like it sometimes.”
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 range of Apollo teams all tackling various components of the program at a different facilities.
“In a system where you follow a protocol where someone has a problem and they escalate it to their supervisor, that manager talks to a supervisor somewhere else, it is relayed back, it becomes inefficient,” notes the CTO. “So we empower team members to really get on with it. Moving away from managerial sign-off for everything is so much cleaner and faster.”
The Future
The effectiveness of this agile methodology will be tested in the intensity of Grand Prix when the season begins and there is a significant degree riding on this for Formula One, too. Cadillac have signed as their development driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta
