A little more than a full year in the past at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally granted the official approval as Formula One’s newest participant for the 2026 season. Establishing the squad from nothing has entailed a frenetic work rate that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the NASA lunar mission. As Formula One descends on Vegas this weekend, Cadillac are aware the deadline is approaching.
The Race Against Time to Australia
At the last event of the campaign to be held in the US, with just over three months to go before they make their debut for the inaugural time in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a monumental task, they are cognizant there will never be sufficient time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, came aboard the newly formed operation in March 2023 soon after it was created, when the organization were without even an approved entry. He has been at its center since then and gets a amused expression when reflecting on the journey.
“There might be a short period thinking back at what the team has achieved and say: ‘Wow, what an achievement what we have built in a short three-year period,’” he says. “Then the following moment you think: ‘Yes, we’ve still got a great deal to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Task
Nick Chester had success at Renault in Alonso's title-winning campaigns of the mid-2000s and was in command of technical direction at the then-new Mercedes electric racing team, but no previous experience has quite compared with the challenge of bringing the iconic American Cadillac brand, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the corporate entity, General Motors Corporation, into Formula One.
“Establishing an grand prix team from scratch, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he observes. “It's unparalleled. In an existing team you won't have the opportunity to transform team culture.”
With each day that passes focus are more focused on the approaching critical moment in Australia and goals are being handled.
“One must presume that any new team coming in is likely to start at the back but just making it to the starting line will be an accomplishment in itself,” Lowdon stated earlier this year and while Chester echoed this he thought the organization had a reputation to build as well.
“The first thing we intend to prove is that we should be there,” Chester explains. “So we show up and we operate well. We want to show that this is a professional operation executing the proper actions on the track. When we prove that our credentials are solid, then we will focus on improvement from there on.”
Racing Talent and Team Building Push
In August they contracted Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas as their pilots for 2026, a duo remarkable for their invaluable experience in competing at the front in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull and Mercedes, and the Finnish driver expressed the attitude of combative optimism.
“Naturally, we have a realistic outlook,” Bottas stated. “We face a massive task to do, and we expect probably a difficult start, because this is Formula One. But we’re not there to finish last. I believe with this setup, with these individuals, this staff, there is every reason that we won't be able to advance swiftly to a competitive level and taste victory.”
To realize that ambition staff acquisition has been in full swing, with staff now at in excess of 400 and intended to hit the goal of six hundred swiftly. In addition to their current base at the UK base, the squad are in the process of building an HQ at the Fishers location in Indy and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, where they are building the center to build the 2029 engine, planned for the 2029 season – for now they will run power from Ferrari – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne, Germany. It is a sophisticated organization, different from the direction in the sport for greater centralisation, and has inspired the new cultural approach to which the CTO referred.
Space Mission Blueprint
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo project,” said the team principal just before the British GP in the summer. “We have a clear-eyed view, we know how challenging it is. The schedules, are incredibly tight. Well, it's not a space expedition, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have adopted, as opposed to the traditional management structure, a flat management structure similar to that of NASA's, where there were a assortment of Apollo teams all tackling different aspects of the mission across a different facilities.
“When you must follow a process where an issue arises and they raise it up to their team leader, that leader talks to a manager somewhere else, it is relayed back, the process is very slow,” notes Nick Chester. “So we empower people to handle things directly. Moving away from managerial sign-off for everything is far more efficient and quicker.”
What Lies Ahead
The effectiveness of this nimble approach will be tested in the heat of competition in 2026 and there is a considerable amount on the line for F1, too. Cadillac have signed as their test driver the young American Colton Herta
