Just over a full year ago at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last granted the go-ahead as the world of Formula One's latest entrant for the 2026 season. Constructing the squad from the ground up has involved a frenetic work rate that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the NASA lunar mission. As Formula One arrives on the Vegas strip this race weekend, the team understand the clock is ticking.
The Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the season finale of the season to be held in the US, with approximately 100 days to go before they make their debut for the first time in Melbourne at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a sisyphean challenge, they are cognizant there will never be sufficient time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, became part of the embryonic team in the spring of 2023 not long after it was created, when the team were without even an official entry. He has been at its core ever since and enjoys a knowing grin when reflecting on the ride.
“You can have a short period thinking back at what the team has achieved and think: ‘Amazing, how impressive what we have built in a short three-year period,’” he notes. “But then the next minute you consider: ‘Well, we still have a significant amount to do.’”
A Unique Opportunity
Chester enjoyed success at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s championship-winning seasons of 2005 and 2006 and was in control of technical development at the new Mercedes electric racing team, but no previous experience has quite compared with the challenge of introducing the all-American Cadillac marque, a works entry supported by the parent company, General Motors Corporation, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Creating an F1 team from scratch, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he says. “There's nothing comparable. In an existing team you rarely get the chance to transform organizational mindset.”
With each day that passes focus are more focused on the looming critical moment in the Australian GP and expectations are being managed.
“You have to assume that any new team entering the sport is likely to start at the back but just making it to the starting line will be an feat in itself,” Graeme Lowdon stated recently and while the CTO echoed this he felt the squad had a statement to make as well.
“The initial objective we intend to prove is that we should be there,” he emphasizes. “In order that we arrive and we operate well. We want to show that we’re a proper team executing the correct procedures on the race track. Once we’ve shown that we are a legitimate team, then we will focus on progression from there on.”
Driver Lineup and Team Building Drive
In late summer they contracted Sergio Pérez and Bottas as their pilots for 2026, a pair distinguished for their priceless expertise in performing at the front in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes-AMG, and the Finnish driver expressed the sentiment of fighting spirit.
“Naturally, we’re realistic,” he commented. “We face a huge amount of work to do, and it’s going to be most likely a challenging beginning, because this is Formula One. But our goal isn't to stay at the back. I am confident with this structure, with these individuals, these personnel, there’s no reason why we won't be able to advance swiftly to a competitive level and achieve good results.”
To achieve that goal recruitment has been in overdrive, with employees now at more than 400 and planned to hit the target of six hundred swiftly. Complementing their existing facility at the UK base, the squad are in the process of completing an main base at Fishers, Indiana in Indy and there is the GM plant in North Carolina, where they are developing the plant to build the power unit, planned for 2029 – in the meantime they will use power from Ferrari – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a intricate organization, different from the trend in Formula One for increased consolidation, and has led to the innovative team culture to which Chester referred to.
Space Mission Inspiration
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo program,” stated Lowdon ahead of the Silverstone race in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we know how challenging it is. The schedules, they’re super, super, super short. Alright, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have adopted, rather than the conventional chain of command, a non-hierarchical approach similar to that of Nasa’s, where there were a range of specialist groups all tackling distinct elements of the program at a variety of locations.
“In a system where you follow a protocol where a challenge emerges and they report it to their supervisor, that supervisor consults a manager at a different location, it is relayed back, it becomes inefficient,” says Chester. “So we empower team members to really get on with it. Moving away from managerial sign-off for all decisions is far more efficient and faster.”
The Future
The success of this agile approach will be evaluated in the heat of competition when the season begins and there is no little amount on the line for Formula One, too. Cadillac have signed as their test driver the emerging American Colton Herta
