Just over twelve months previously at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally awarded the go-ahead as F1's latest entry for 2026. Constructing the team from scratch has involved a frenetic work rate that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo moon landing. As the sport converges on the Vegas strip this race weekend, the team know the deadline is approaching.
The Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the season finale of the season to be hosted in the America, with just over three months to go before they make their debut for the first time in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a monumental task, they are aware there will not be adequate time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, came aboard the newly formed team in March 2023 shortly after it was created, when the team were without even an approved entry. He has been at its center since then and gets a knowing grin when reflecting on the ride.
“You can have a short period thinking back at what you have accomplished and say: ‘Amazing, what an achievement what we have built in under three years,’” he notes. “Then the next minute you realize: ‘Yes, we still have quite a lot to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Challenge
Nick Chester had success at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s championship-winning campaigns of 2005/2006 and was in control of technical development at the new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but nothing has been quite like the challenge of launching the all-American Cadillac marque, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the owner, General Motors Corporation, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Creating an F1 team from scratch, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” Chester remarks. “It's unparalleled. In an existing team you won't have the chance to change organizational mindset.”
With every day that passes thoughts are more focused on the impending decisive point in Australia and targets are being handled.
“One must presume that any new team coming in is probably going to finish last but merely participating will be an achievement in itself,” the team principal commented recently and while Nick Chester shared this view he believed 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 turn up and we operate well. We seek to prove that we are a serious contender executing the right things on the track. Once we prove that we are a legitimate team, then we aim to demonstrate improvement from there on.”
Racing Talent and Recruitment Push
In late summer they recruited Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their pilots for 2026, a duo distinguished for their invaluable experience in competing at the leading positions in two championship-winning squads, the Red Bull team and Mercedes-AMG, and Bottas echoed the sentiment of determined optimism.
“Naturally, we have a realistic outlook,” Bottas stated. “We face a mountain of work to do, and it’s going to be almost certainly a difficult start, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we’re not there to finish last. In my view with this structure, with this group, these people, there is every reason that we shouldn’t be able to progress rapidly up to the pace and enjoy some success.”
To realize that ambition staff acquisition has been in top gear, with personnel now reaching more than 400 and scheduled to reach the target of 600 members quickly. Alongside their current base at the Silverstone circuit, the team are in the process of completing an main base at Fishers in Indianapolis and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, where they are constructing the facility to manufacture the power unit, scheduled for the 2029 season – for now they will operate with power from Ferrari – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a sophisticated organization, contrary to the direction in the sport for increased consolidation, and has led to the innovative team culture to which the CTO referred.
Space Mission Model
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo project,” said Lowdon just before the British GP in mid-season. “We are pragmatic, we know how difficult it is. The deadlines, are incredibly tight. Well, it's not a space expedition, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have implemented, rather than the traditional management structure, a non-hierarchical approach comparable to that of Nasa’s, where there were a variety of specialist groups all focusing on different aspects of the project in a variety of locations.
“In a system where you follow a procedure where someone has a problem and they raise it up to their team leader, that manager consults a supervisor in another department, it is relayed back, it becomes inefficient,” explains the CTO. “So we empower staff to handle things directly. Eliminating management approval for all decisions is much smoother and faster.”
Upcoming Challenges
The efficacy of this flexible methodology will be tested in the pressure of racing in 2026 and there is a considerable amount at stake for F1, too. Cadillac have signed as their development driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
