Approximately twelve months ago at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally given the official approval as Formula One’s latest entry for 2026. Building the organization from the ground up has involved a frenetic work rate that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo moon landing. As the sport arrives on Las Vegas this race weekend, the team know the deadline is approaching.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the season finale of the championship to be hosted in the United States, with just over three months to go before they hit the circuit for the first time in Australia at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a sisyphean endeavor, they are aware there will not be sufficient time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, joined the newly formed project in early 2023 shortly after it was established, when the organization were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its center ever since and enjoys a knowing grin when considering the journey.
“You might get a brief moment thinking back at what the team has achieved and think: ‘Incredible, how impressive what the team has created in a short three-year period,’” he says. “Then the following moment you think: ‘Yes, we still have quite a lot to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Task
The CTO achieved victories at the Renault team in the driver Fernando Alonso's victorious years of 2005 and 2006 and was in control of technical development at the recently formed Mercedes Formula E team, but nothing has truly matched the mission of introducing the iconic American Cadillac marque, a works entry supported by the owner, General Motors Corporation, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Building an Formula One team from nothing, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he observes. “There's nothing comparable. In an existing team you rarely get the possibility to change organizational mindset.”
With each passing day that elapses thoughts are more focused on the approaching moment of truth in Melbourne and expectations are being handled.
“It's reasonable to expect that any incoming team coming in is probably going to finish last but merely participating will be an accomplishment in itself,” Graeme Lowdon commented this year and while Nick Chester agreed with this sentiment he believed the squad had a reputation to build as well.
“Our primary goal we aim to demonstrate is that we should be there,” he emphasizes. “In order that we arrive and we perform competently. We seek to prove that this is a professional operation doing the right things on the track. After we have demonstrated that our credentials are solid, then we want to show progression after that.”
Driver Lineup and Hiring Push
In August they contracted Sergio Pérez and Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a duo distinguished for their invaluable experience in operating at the sharp end in two of the sport’s biggest teams, the Red Bull team and Mercedes, and Valtteri Bottas reflected the sentiment of fighting spirit.
“Naturally, we have a realistic outlook,” he commented. “We have a mountain of work to do, and we expect almost certainly a challenging beginning, because it is F1. But we’re not there to stay at the back. I believe with this structure, with these individuals, these personnel, it's entirely possible we shouldn’t be able to progress rapidly to the front and enjoy some success.”
To achieve that goal staff acquisition has been in full swing, with staff now at in excess of 400 and intended to hit the target of 600 members rapidly. Complementing their current base at the UK base, the organization are in the process of finishing an HQ at Fishers in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM works in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are constructing the facility to produce the new engine, planned for 2029 – for now they will operate with power from Ferrari – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a sophisticated organisation, contrary to the movement in F1 for increased consolidation, and has inspired the fresh organizational mindset to which the CTO referred.
Apollo Inspiration
“We've drawn heavily from the NASA moon mission,” remarked the team principal just before the British Grand Prix in the summer. “We’re realistic, we understand how difficult it is. The deadlines, are incredibly tight. OK, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have adopted, rather than the traditional management structure, a decentralized management similar to that of NASA's, where there were a assortment of project teams all focusing on various components of the program across a different facilities.
“When you must follow a process where a challenge emerges and they report it to their manager, that supervisor talks to a manager at a different location, it is relayed back, it becomes inefficient,” notes the CTO. “We give authority to people to handle things directly. Moving away from management approval for each action is so much cleaner and faster.”
Upcoming Challenges
The success of this flexible strategy will be evaluated in the intensity of Grand Prix in 2026 and there is a considerable amount at stake for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their reserve driver the young Californian Colton Herta
