A little more than twelve months previously at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were ultimately granted the official approval as F1's most recent participant for the 2026 season. Building the squad from nothing has entailed a frenetic work rate that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo program. As F1 converges on Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac understand the clock is ticking.
The Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the season finale of the championship to be staged in the US, with around a hundred days to go before they hit the circuit for the maiden outing in Melbourne at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a never-ending endeavor, they are cognizant there will never be sufficient time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, joined the nascent team in the spring of 2023 not long after it was formed, when the squad were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its center since then and gets a knowing grin when reflecting on the ride.
“You might get five minutes thinking back at what you have accomplished and go: ‘Amazing, isn’t this fantastic what we have built in less than three years,’” he says. “But then the very next instant you think: ‘Yeah, there is still a great deal to do.’”
A Unique Task
The CTO had success at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s title-winning years of the mid-2000s and was in charge of technical development at the then-new Mercedes electric racing team, but nothing has truly matched the task of bringing the all-American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry sponsored by the corporate entity, General Motors Corporation, into Formula One.
“Creating an F1 team from the ground up, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he observes. “There's nothing comparable. In an existing team you don’t get the chance to alter organizational mindset.”
With every day that passes minds are more focused on the looming moment of truth in the Australian GP and targets are being set realistically.
“It's reasonable to expect that any new team joining the grid is likely to start at the back but just making it to the starting line will be an accomplishment in itself,” the team principal commented earlier this year and while the CTO agreed with this sentiment he thought the squad had a reputation to build as well.
“Our primary goal we intend to prove is that we deserve to be there,” he says. “In order that we arrive and we function efficiently. We aim to demonstrate that this is a professional operation performing the correct procedures on the circuit. After we have demonstrated that our credentials are solid, then we aim to demonstrate progression from there on.”
Driver Lineup and Recruitment Effort
In the summer they recruited Sergio Pérez and Valtteri as their pilots for 2026, a tandem remarkable for their priceless expertise in operating at the leading positions in two top-tier teams, Red Bull and Mercedes, and Valtteri Bottas echoed the mood of combative optimism.
“Certainly, we are pragmatic,” he said. “There’s going to be a mountain of work to do, and it will likely be most likely a challenging beginning, because this is Formula One. But we’re not there to stay at the back. I am confident with this setup, with these individuals, these personnel, there is every reason that we won't be able to advance swiftly to a competitive level and enjoy some success.”
To that end hiring has been in overdrive, with personnel now at more than 400 and planned to attain the goal of 600 members quickly. In addition to their current base at Silverstone, the organization are in the phase of finishing an headquarters at Fishers in Indianapolis and there is the GM works in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are constructing the plant to manufacture the new engine, scheduled for the 2029 season – until then they will use power from Ferrari – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a sophisticated organization, different from the direction in Formula One for increased consolidation, and has inspired the fresh organizational mindset to which the CTO referred to.
Space Mission Inspiration
“It’s highly modelled on the NASA moon mission,” stated the team principal ahead of the Silverstone race in mid-season. “We’re realistic, we recognize how challenging it is. The timelines, are incredibly tight. OK, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it can seem that way.”
So they have implemented, as opposed to the usual hierarchical system, a non-hierarchical approach comparable to that of NASA's, where there were a assortment of specialist groups all focusing on different aspects of the mission at a multiple sites.
“If you have to go through a procedure where a challenge emerges and they report it to their team leader, that manager consults a supervisor in another department, it travels back down, the process is very slow,” notes the CTO. “Therefore we enable team members to take charge. Avoiding management approval for each action is much smoother and faster.”
The Future
The efficacy of this flexible approach will be tested in the pressure of racing next season and there is a significant degree on the line for F1, too. Cadillac have signed as their reserve driver the young American Colton Herta
