Approximately one year in the past at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally granted the official approval as Formula One’s latest participant for the 2026 season. Establishing the squad from scratch has involved a frenetic work rate that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the NASA lunar mission. As Formula One descends on Las Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac understand the clock is ticking.
The Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the final race of the campaign to be staged in the United States, with just over three months to go before they take to the track for the maiden outing in Australia at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a sisyphean endeavor, they are aware there will never be adequate time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, became part of the newly formed project in early 2023 shortly after it was created, when the squad were without even an approved entry. He has been at its heart ever since and enjoys a wry smile when considering the ride.
“You might get a short period looking back at what you have accomplished and say: ‘Amazing, what an achievement what the team has created in less than three years,’” Chester states. “Then the very next instant you consider: ‘Yes, we still have a significant amount to do.’”
An Unprecedented Challenge
The CTO had success at the Renault team in Alonso's championship-winning campaigns of the mid-2000s and was in command of technical development at the new Mercedes electric racing team, but nothing has truly matched the mission of launching the all-American Cadillac name, a works entry supported by the owner, General Motors, into Formula One.
“Establishing an Formula One team from scratch, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” Chester remarks. “It is like nothing else. In an established team you won't have the possibility to transform organizational mindset.”
With every day that goes by minds are sharper on the impending moment of truth in Australia and targets are being managed.
“One must presume that a brand-new squad coming in is going to be last but just making it to the starting line will be an achievement in itself,” Graeme Lowdon commented earlier this year and while the CTO agreed with this sentiment he thought the squad had a point to prove as well.
“The initial objective we want to show is that we deserve to be there,” Chester explains. “So that we show up and we perform competently. We want to show that we’re a proper team doing the right things on the race track. When we prove that we are a legitimate team, then we aim to demonstrate improvement from there on.”
Pilot Selection and Recruitment Drive
In the summer they recruited Checo Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their pilots for 2026, a tandem notable 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 Bottas expressed the sentiment of determined optimism.
“Of course, we have a realistic outlook,” he commented. “We have a huge amount of work to do, and it’s going to be most likely a difficult start, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we aren't joining to remain at the rear. I am confident with this setup, with these individuals, this staff, there is every reason that we can't manage to get relatively quickly up to the pace and enjoy some success.”
To achieve that goal hiring has been in full swing, with personnel now up to over 400 and intended to hit the target of 600 rapidly. In addition to their existing facility at the Silverstone circuit, the organization are in the process of completing an HQ at Fishers in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM works in North Carolina, where they are constructing the facility to build the 2029 engine, planned for 2029 – in the meantime they will run Ferrari power units – and the aerodynamic facility in Germany. It is a sophisticated organization, different from the direction in Formula One for increased consolidation, and has inspired the new cultural approach to which the CTO alluded.
Apollo Blueprint
“It's closely based on the Apollo project,” remarked the team principal ahead of the Silverstone race in July. “We’re realistic, we understand how challenging it is. The schedules, are incredibly tight. OK, it's not a space expedition, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have adopted, as opposed to the traditional management structure, a non-hierarchical approach similar to that of NASA's, where there were a assortment of specialist groups all working on various components of the mission at a multiple sites.
“When you must follow a protocol where an issue arises and they raise it up to their team leader, that leader consults a supervisor somewhere else, it travels back down, it becomes inefficient,” explains Nick Chester. “We give authority to staff to really get on with it. Eliminating management approval for everything is far more efficient and faster.”
The Future
The efficacy of this flexible strategy will be proven in the heat of competition next season and there is a significant degree at stake for F1, too. Cadillac have recruited as their development driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta
