A little more than a full year previously at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally given the go-ahead as Formula One’s latest entry for the 2026 season. Constructing the organization from nothing has required a frenetic pace of work that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo moon landing. As the sport converges on the Vegas strip this race weekend, the team understand the clock is ticking.
The Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the final race of the championship to be staged in the US, with around 100 days to go before they make their debut for the maiden outing in Melbourne at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a monumental endeavor, they are cognizant there will never be adequate time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, came aboard the embryonic project in March 2023 not long after it was created, when the organization were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its center from that point and gets a knowing grin when thinking about the journey.
“You can have five minutes reflecting at what the team has achieved and say: ‘Incredible, what an achievement what the team has created in a short three-year period,’” Chester states. “But then the next minute you realize: ‘Yeah, there is still quite a lot to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Opportunity
Chester enjoyed success at Renault in the driver Fernando Alonso's championship-winning campaigns of the mid-2000s and was in charge of technical development at the new Mercedes electric racing team, but no previous experience has been quite like the mission of launching the all-American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry sponsored by the corporate entity, GM, into F1.
“Building an Formula One team from the ground up, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he observes. “It's unparalleled. In an existing team you rarely get the possibility to change team culture.”
With each passing day that passes focus are more focused on the looming decisive point in Australia and goals are being set realistically.
“You have to assume that any new team joining the grid is going to be last but simply getting on to the grid will be an feat in itself,” Lowdon stated earlier this year and while Nick Chester echoed this he felt the organization had a point to prove as well.
“The initial objective we aim to demonstrate is that we should be there,” he emphasizes. “So that we turn up and we perform competently. We aim to demonstrate that we’re a proper team doing the right things on the race track. After we have demonstrated that we’re really credible, then we want to show progression subsequently.”
Driver Lineup and Recruitment Drive
In August they recruited Sergio Perez and Bottas as their pilots for the 2026 season, a duo notable for their priceless expertise in performing at the sharp end in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes, and the Finnish driver echoed the sentiment of fighting spirit.
“Certainly, we’re realistic,” Bottas stated. “There’s going to be a huge amount of work to do, and it will likely be probably a tough opening, because it is F1. But we’re not there to finish last. I am confident given this organization, with these individuals, these personnel, there’s no reason why we can't manage to advance swiftly up to the pace and taste victory.”
To achieve that goal hiring has been in full swing, with staff now up to more than 400 and scheduled to reach the objective of 600 members swiftly. Complementing their present headquarters at the UK base, the team are in the phase of completing an main base at Fishers, Indiana in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are constructing the facility to produce the power unit, planned for 2029 – in the meantime they will use Ferrari power units – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Germany. It is a complex organisation, at odds with the movement in Formula One for more centralization, and has led to the new cultural approach to which the CTO referred.
Apollo Inspiration
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo program,” said the team principal shortly before the British GP in mid-season. “We have a clear-eyed view, we understand how difficult it is. The timelines, they’re super, super, super short. Well, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have adopted, instead of the traditional management structure, a decentralized management akin to that of NASA's, where there were a range of specialist groups all focusing on distinct elements of the program at a variety of locations.
“If you have to go through a process where someone has a problem and they raise it up to their supervisor, that supervisor consults a supervisor at a different location, it travels back down, it becomes inefficient,” explains Chester. “So we empower staff to take charge. Moving away from managerial sign-off for each action is far more efficient and more rapid.”
What Lies Ahead
The efficacy of this flexible approach will be proven in the heat of competition in 2026 and there is a considerable amount at stake for the sport, too. Cadillac have signed as their development driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta
