A little more than twelve months in the past at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally granted the green light as Formula One’s newest entry for 2026. Constructing the squad from nothing has involved a frenetic operating tempo that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the NASA lunar mission. As Formula One descends on Vegas this weekend, Cadillac know the deadline is approaching.
The Countdown to Australia
At the last event of the championship to be hosted in the US, with around three months to go before they make their debut for the inaugural time in Melbourne at the first race of 2026, the Cadillac F1 project have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a never-ending endeavor, they are conscious there will not be enough hours in the day.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, came aboard the embryonic operation in early 2023 soon after it was created, when the organization were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its heart from that point and gets a wry smile when thinking about the journey.
“You can have a short period reflecting at what you have accomplished and say: ‘Incredible, how impressive what we have built in under three years,’” Chester states. “But then the following moment you realize: ‘Yeah, there is still a great deal to do.’”
An Unprecedented Challenge
Chester enjoyed success at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s championship-winning seasons of 2005/2006 and was in command of technical direction at the new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no previous experience has been quite like the task of launching the all-American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the parent company, GM, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Building an grand prix team from the ground up, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” Chester remarks. “It is like nothing else. In an existing team you won't have the opportunity to alter cultural approach.”
With each passing day that elapses thoughts are increasingly concentrated on the approaching critical moment in Melbourne and targets are being set realistically.
“It's reasonable to expect that any incoming team coming in is likely to start at the back but simply getting on to the grid will be an feat in itself,” Lowdon stated this year and while Nick Chester shared this view he felt the squad had a reputation to build as well.
“The initial objective we want to show is that we belong on the grid,” he emphasizes. “So we show up and we function efficiently. We seek to prove that we’re a proper team executing the correct procedures on the circuit. After we have demonstrated that we’re really credible, then we aim to demonstrate improvement after that.”
Racing Talent and Hiring Push
In August they recruited Checo Pérez and Valtteri as their racers for 2026, a pair distinguished for their priceless expertise in performing at the front in two top-tier teams, Red Bull and the Mercedes team, and Bottas expressed the mood of determined optimism.
“Of course, we’re realistic,” he said. “We face a mountain of work to do, and it will likely be almost certainly a tough opening, because it's the top level of motorsport. But our goal isn't to finish last. I am confident with this setup, with this team, these people, there is every reason that we shouldn’t be able to advance swiftly to the front and enjoy some success.”
To achieve that goal recruitment has been in top gear, with staff now reaching more than 400 and intended to attain the objective of six hundred swiftly. Alongside their current base at the UK base, the squad are in the process of building an HQ at Fishers in Indy and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are building the center to produce the 2029 engine, scheduled for 2029 – for now they will use Ferrari power units – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne, Germany. It is a intricate structure, different from the direction in the sport for greater centralisation, and has inspired the new cultural approach to which Chester referred.
NASA Model
“It’s highly modelled on the NASA moon mission,” said Graeme Lowdon shortly before the British Grand Prix in the summer. “We have a clear-eyed view, we know how tough it is. The timelines, they’re super, super, super short. OK, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it can seem that way.”
So they have implemented, as opposed to the conventional chain of command, a flat management structure similar to that of NASA's, where there were a range of Apollo teams all working on distinct elements of the mission across a different facilities.
“If you have to go through a procedure where a challenge emerges and they escalate it to their supervisor, that supervisor communicates with a manager at a different location, it goes back down the chain, the process is very slow,” explains Nick Chester. “We give authority to people to really get on with it. Moving away from hierarchical consent for everything is so much cleaner and quicker.”
What Lies Ahead
The effectiveness of this flexible approach will be tested in the intensity of Grand Prix when the season begins and there is a considerable amount on the line for F1, too. The Cadillac team have taken on as their test driver the emerging American Colton Herta
