A little more than a full year in the past at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were ultimately awarded the official approval as the world of Formula One's newest entry for 2026. Building the squad from scratch has involved a hectic operating tempo that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo moon landing. As F1 descends on Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac are aware the clock is ticking.
The Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the last event of the season to be staged in the US, with approximately three months to go before they take to the track for the maiden outing in Australia at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a monumental task, they are aware there will not be adequate time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, came aboard the embryonic team in early 2023 not long after it was established, when the squad were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its heart ever since and has a knowing grin when reflecting on the experience.
“You might get a short period thinking back at what you have accomplished and think: ‘Wow, how impressive what we’ve done in a short three-year period,’” he says. “But then the next minute you think: ‘Yeah, there is still a great deal to do.’”
A Unique Task
The CTO had success at the Renault team in the driver Fernando Alonso's title-winning years of 2005 and 2006 and was in command of technical direction at the new Mercedes electric racing team, but nothing has truly matched the mission of introducing the quintessentially American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the parent company, GM, into Formula One.
“Creating an Formula One team from nothing, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he observes. “It is like nothing else. In an established team you rarely get the possibility to alter team culture.”
With each day that goes by focus are increasingly concentrated on the looming decisive point in the Australian GP and targets are being managed.
“One must presume that any new team joining the grid is going to be last but simply getting on to the grid will be an achievement in itself,” the team principal stated this year and while Chester agreed with this sentiment he believed the organization had a reputation to build as well.
“The initial objective we want to show is that we should be there,” Chester explains. “So we show up and we function efficiently. We aim to demonstrate that we are a serious contender performing the right things on the track. When we’ve shown that we’re really credible, then we will focus on progression after that.”
Racing Talent and Team Building Effort
In the summer they contracted Checo Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their racers for 2026, a pair remarkable for their priceless expertise in performing at the leading positions in two championship-winning squads, the Red Bull team and Mercedes-AMG, and Valtteri Bottas expressed the mood of combative optimism.
“Naturally, we are pragmatic,” Bottas stated. “There’s going to be a mountain of work to do, and we expect probably a challenging beginning, because this is Formula One. But our goal isn't to remain at the rear. In my view given this organization, with this team, these people, there’s no reason why we can't manage to get relatively quickly up to the pace and enjoy some success.”
To that end staff acquisition has been in full swing, with personnel now up to more than 400 and scheduled to attain the target of 600 members quickly. Complementing their existing facility at the Silverstone circuit, the squad are in the phase of building an headquarters at Fishers in Indy and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are developing the plant to produce the new engine, planned for 2029 – for now they will use Ferrari engines – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne. It is a intricate organization, at odds with the movement in F1 for increased consolidation, and has prompted the innovative team culture to which the CTO alluded.
NASA Blueprint
“It's closely based on the Apollo project,” remarked the team principal shortly before the Silverstone race in the summer. “We have a clear-eyed view, we recognize how difficult it is. The deadlines, are incredibly tight. OK, it's not a space expedition, but it can seem that way.”
So they have adopted, instead of the traditional management structure, a flat management structure comparable to that of the space agency's, where there were a variety of Apollo teams all tackling various components of the mission across a multiple sites.
“When you must follow a protocol where an issue arises and they escalate it to their manager, that leader consults a leader in another department, it goes back down the chain, it becomes inefficient,” notes Nick Chester. “So we empower team members to handle things directly. Eliminating hierarchical consent for all decisions is far more efficient and quicker.”
What Lies Ahead
The efficacy of this nimble strategy will be evaluated in the intensity of Grand Prix in 2026 and there is a significant degree riding on this for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their reserve driver the young American Colton Herta
