A little more than one year ago at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last awarded the go-ahead as the world of Formula One's most recent entry for the 2026 season. Building the squad from scratch has involved a intense operating tempo that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the NASA lunar mission. As Formula One descends on the Vegas strip this weekend, Cadillac know the deadline is approaching.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the final race of the championship to be staged in the United States, with approximately three months to go before they make their debut for the maiden outing in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a monumental challenge, they are conscious there will never be adequate time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, joined the nascent operation in the spring of 2023 soon after it was established, when the team were without even an official entry. He has been at its core from that point and has a knowing grin when thinking about the experience.
“You might get a brief moment reflecting at what the team has achieved and think: ‘Wow, what an achievement what we’ve done in less than three years,’” Chester states. “And then the next minute you think: ‘Yes, there is still a great deal to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Opportunity
Chester achieved victories at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s title-winning seasons of 2005 and 2006 and was in control of technical development at the recently formed Mercedes Formula E team, but no previous experience has quite compared with the mission of launching the all-American Cadillac marque, a factory team sponsored by the corporate entity, General Motors Corporation, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Building an Formula One team from scratch, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” Chester remarks. “It is like nothing else. In an established team you don’t get the chance to change organizational mindset.”
With each day that elapses minds are increasingly concentrated on the approaching moment of truth in the Australian GP and goals are being managed.
“You have to assume that any new team coming in is probably going to finish last but just making it to the starting line will be an feat in itself,” Lowdon noted this year and while Chester echoed this he felt the squad had a point to prove as well.
“The initial objective we intend to prove is that we should be there,” he says. “In order that we turn up and we perform competently. We want to show that this is a professional operation executing the correct procedures on the circuit. Once we prove that we’re really credible, then we aim to demonstrate improvement subsequently.”
Racing Talent and Hiring Push
In the summer they contracted Sergio Perez and Valtteri as their drivers for the 2026 season, a tandem notable for their invaluable experience in performing at the sharp end in two top-tier teams, Red Bull and Mercedes, and Valtteri Bottas expressed the attitude of fighting spirit.
“Of course, we’re realistic,” he commented. “We face a mountain of work to do, and it will likely be most likely a challenging beginning, because this is Formula One. But we aren't joining to remain at the rear. In my view with this structure, with these individuals, these personnel, there is every reason that we won't be able to advance swiftly to a competitive level and enjoy some success.”
To realize that ambition hiring has been in full swing, with employees now up to in excess of 400 and planned to reach the target of 600 members quickly. Complementing their existing facility at the Silverstone circuit, the squad are in the midst of finishing an headquarters at Fishers, Indiana in Indianapolis and there is the GM works in North Carolina, where they are constructing the plant to manufacture the new engine, planned for 2029 – in the meantime they will run Ferrari engines – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a intricate structure, different from the direction in F1 for increased consolidation, and has led to the fresh organizational mindset to which Chester alluded.
Apollo Model
“It’s highly modelled on the NASA moon mission,” said Graeme Lowdon ahead of the Silverstone race in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we recognize how tough it is. The schedules, are extremely compressed. OK, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have embraced, rather than the conventional chain of command, a flat management structure comparable to that of Nasa’s, where there were a range of Apollo teams all tackling different aspects of the mission in a different facilities.
“When you must follow a process where an issue arises and they raise it up to their manager, that manager consults a leader somewhere else, it goes back down the chain, it becomes inefficient,” says Nick Chester. “So we empower staff to handle things directly. Avoiding management approval for all decisions is far more efficient and more rapid.”
The Future
The success of this nimble approach will be tested in the intensity of Grand Prix when the season begins and there is a significant degree on the line for Formula One, too. The Cadillac team have taken on as their reserve driver the young American Colton Herta
