Just over a full year ago at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last awarded the go-ahead as Formula One’s latest participant for 2026. Constructing the organization from scratch has involved a frenetic pace of work that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the NASA lunar mission. As F1 descends on Las Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac understand the deadline is approaching.
The Tight Timeline to Australia
At the season finale of the season to be staged in the US, with around a hundred days to go before they make their debut for the inaugural time in Australia at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a monumental task, they are conscious there will never be enough hours in the day.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, joined the nascent operation in March 2023 not long after it was formed, when the team were without even an approved entry. He has been at its core from that point and enjoys a amused expression when reflecting on the experience.
“You might get a short period thinking back at what you’ve done and think: ‘Amazing, what an achievement what we have built in under three years,’” Chester states. “Then the following moment you realize: ‘Well, there is still a great deal to do.’”
An Unprecedented Task
Nick Chester achieved victories at Renault in the driver Fernando Alonso's victorious campaigns of 2005 and 2006 and was in control of technical development at the new Mercedes electric racing team, but nothing has quite compared with the mission of launching the quintessentially American Cadillac brand, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the parent company, General Motors, into Formula One.
“Building an grand prix team from nothing, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he says. “There's nothing comparable. In an established team you don’t get the possibility to alter cultural approach.”
With each day that passes minds are sharper on the impending decisive point in Australia and expectations are being set realistically.
“One must presume that a brand-new squad joining the grid is probably going to finish last but just making it to the starting line will be an feat in itself,” the team principal stated this year and while the CTO shared this view he thought the squad had a reputation to build as well.
“The initial objective we want to show is that we deserve to be there,” he says. “So we arrive and we perform competently. We seek to prove that this is a professional operation doing the proper actions on the circuit. When we have demonstrated that we’re really credible, then we aim to demonstrate progression subsequently.”
Driver Lineup and Hiring Push
In August they contracted Checo Pérez and Valtteri as their racers for 2026, a pair notable for their invaluable experience in performing at the front in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes-AMG, and Bottas reflected the sentiment of fighting spirit.
“Naturally, we’re realistic,” he commented. “We face a mountain of work to do, and it will likely be probably a tough opening, because it is F1. But our goal isn't to finish last. In my view with this setup, with these individuals, these people, there’s no reason why we won't be able to get relatively quickly up to the pace and taste victory.”
To achieve that goal staff acquisition has been in overdrive, with staff now at over 400 and intended to attain the target of 600 quickly. Complementing their current base at the UK base, the squad are in the process of finishing an HQ at the Fishers location in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, where they are constructing the center to produce the 2029 engine, scheduled for 2029 – until then they will run power from Ferrari – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne, Germany. It is a intricate structure, different from the movement in Formula One for more centralization, and has prompted the new cultural approach to which Nick Chester referred to.
NASA Inspiration
“It's closely based on the Apollo project,” said the team principal shortly before the British Grand Prix in July. “We’re realistic, we understand how difficult it is. The schedules, are incredibly tight. Alright, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have implemented, rather than the usual hierarchical system, a non-hierarchical approach akin to that of the space agency's, where there were a assortment of project teams all working on various components of the program in a multiple sites.
“When you must follow a protocol where someone has a problem and they report it to their manager, that leader talks to a manager in another department, it travels back down, it’s super slow,” says Nick Chester. “So we empower people to really get on with it. Moving away from managerial sign-off for each action is much smoother and quicker.”
Upcoming Challenges
The efficacy of this agile approach will be evaluated in the heat of competition in 2026 and there is a considerable amount riding on this for F1, too. Cadillac have recruited as their development driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta
