A little more than a full year ago at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally awarded the official approval as Formula One’s latest participant for the 2026 season. Building the squad from nothing has entailed a intense operating tempo that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo program. As the sport converges on Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac know the deadline is approaching.
The Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the last event of the championship to be held in the US, with approximately 100 days to go before they hit the circuit for the maiden outing in Melbourne at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a never-ending endeavor, they are conscious there will never be enough hours in the day.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, joined the nascent project in the spring of 2023 shortly after it was formed, when the team were without even an official entry. He has been at its center from that point and enjoys a amused expression when thinking about the ride.
“You can have five minutes looking back at what you have accomplished and go: ‘Wow, what an achievement what we have built in less than three years,’” he notes. “Then the next minute you consider: ‘Yeah, we still have a great deal to do.’”
A Unique Task
Chester enjoyed success at the Renault team in the driver Fernando Alonso's title-winning seasons of 2005 and 2006 and was in control of engineering strategy at the then-new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no previous experience has been quite like the challenge of launching the iconic American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry backed by the corporate entity, General Motors, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Establishing an F1 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 cultural approach.”
With each passing day that elapses focus are more focused on the impending decisive point in Australia and targets are being handled.
“It's reasonable to expect that a brand-new squad joining the grid is going to be last but merely participating will be an accomplishment in itself,” the team principal noted recently and while Nick Chester shared this view he felt the team had a reputation to build as well.
“The first thing we aim to demonstrate is that we belong on the grid,” Chester explains. “So we arrive and we operate well. We aim to demonstrate that we are a serious contender doing the correct procedures on the race track. When we prove that we’re really credible, then we want to show forward movement subsequently.”
Driver Lineup and Recruitment Push
In late summer they contracted Sergio Pérez and Bottas as their pilots for 2026, a duo remarkable for their vast knowledge in competing at the front in two top-tier teams, the Red Bull team and the Mercedes team, and Valtteri Bottas echoed the sentiment of determined optimism.
“Naturally, we are pragmatic,” Bottas stated. “There’s going to be a mountain of work to do, and we expect probably a tough opening, because it is F1. But our goal isn't to remain at the rear. I believe with this structure, with this team, these personnel, there’s no reason why we won't be able to get relatively quickly to the front and taste victory.”
To achieve that goal recruitment has been in overdrive, with employees now up to in excess of 400 and intended to reach the objective of 600 members swiftly. In addition to their present headquarters at the Silverstone circuit, the team are in the phase of completing an headquarters at Fishers in Indianapolis and there is the GM plant in North Carolina, where they are building the facility to build the new engine, set for 2029 – until then they will use Ferrari power units – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Germany. It is a intricate organisation, contrary to the trend in F1 for increased consolidation, and has led to the new cultural approach to which Nick Chester referred.
Space Mission Inspiration
“It's closely based on the NASA moon mission,” said the team principal ahead of the Silverstone race in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we understand how tough it is. The deadlines, are incredibly tight. Alright, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have adopted, rather than the traditional management structure, a decentralized management similar to that of Nasa’s, where there were a variety of Apollo teams all working on various components of the project in a different facilities.
“When you must follow a process where an issue arises and they report it to their supervisor, that supervisor consults a leader in another department, it is relayed back, it becomes inefficient,” notes Nick Chester. “We give authority to staff to handle things directly. Moving away from managerial sign-off for everything is much smoother and faster.”
The Future
The effectiveness of this flexible strategy will be proven in the pressure of racing in 2026 and there is no little amount on the line for Formula One, too. Cadillac have taken on as their test driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
