A little more than one year in the past at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last given the go-ahead as Formula One’s latest entry for the 2026 season. Building the team from the ground up has entailed a frenetic pace of work that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the NASA lunar mission. As Formula One descends on the Vegas strip this race weekend, Cadillac are aware the deadline is approaching.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the last event of the season to be staged in the America, with around a hundred days to go before they make their debut for the maiden outing in Melbourne at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a monumental endeavor, they are cognizant there will never be enough hours in the day.
The technical director, Nick Chester, came aboard the nascent operation in early 2023 shortly after it was created, when the squad were without even an approved entry. He has been at its heart since then and gets a amused expression when reflecting on the ride.
“You can have a short period reflecting at what you’ve done and go: ‘Incredible, how impressive what the team has created in a short three-year period,’” Chester states. “Then the very next instant you consider: ‘Well, we’ve still got quite a lot to do.’”
An Unprecedented Challenge
Nick Chester achieved victories at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s title-winning campaigns of 2005 and 2006 and was in charge of technical development at the recently formed Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but nothing has truly matched the challenge of launching the all-American Cadillac marque, a manufacturer-backed entry sponsored by the owner, General Motors, into Formula One.
“Establishing 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 won't have the possibility to change cultural approach.”
With every day that passes minds are more focused on the approaching critical moment in Melbourne and expectations are being handled.
“You have to assume that any new team joining the grid is going to be last but merely participating will be an feat in itself,” Lowdon commented this year and while Nick Chester shared this view he thought the organization had a reputation to build as well.
“The initial objective we want to show is that we should be there,” Chester explains. “So we show up and we operate well. We aim to demonstrate that this is a professional operation doing the right things on the circuit. Once we prove that we’re really credible, then we want to show improvement from there on.”
Pilot Selection and Hiring Push
In late summer they signed Checo Pérez and Bottas as their racers for 2026, a pair distinguished for their priceless expertise in operating at the sharp end in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull and Mercedes-AMG, and Valtteri Bottas expressed the attitude of fighting spirit.
“Certainly, we have a realistic outlook,” he commented. “We have a huge amount of work to do, and it’s going to be most likely a difficult start, because it is F1. But our goal isn't to stay at the back. I am confident given this organization, with these individuals, this staff, there is every reason that we won't be able to advance swiftly to the front and enjoy some success.”
To that end hiring has been in top gear, with personnel now at over 400 and intended to hit the target of 600 swiftly. In addition to their present headquarters at Silverstone, the organization are in the phase of building an main base at Fishers, Indiana in Indy and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, where they are building the plant to produce the 2029 engine, planned for the 2029 season – until then they will run power from Ferrari – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a sophisticated organisation, different from the direction in the sport for more centralization, and has inspired the fresh organizational mindset to which Chester alluded.
Apollo Model
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo project,” remarked Graeme Lowdon shortly before the British Grand Prix in the summer. “We have a clear-eyed view, we understand how difficult it is. The timelines, they’re super, super, super short. Alright, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it can seem that way.”
So they have embraced, instead of the conventional chain of command, a decentralized management akin to that of NASA's, where there were a variety of project teams all tackling various components of the program at a different facilities.
“When you must follow a procedure where a challenge emerges and they escalate it to their manager, that supervisor consults a manager at a different location, it travels back down, it’s super slow,” says Nick Chester. “Therefore we enable people to handle things directly. Avoiding hierarchical consent for each action is far more efficient and quicker.”
What Lies Ahead
The effectiveness of this agile strategy will be tested in the heat of competition next season and there is no little amount on the line for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their reserve driver the young American Colton Herta
