Approximately one year in the past at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally granted the official approval as the world of Formula One's newest entrant for the 2026 season. Establishing the organization from nothing has involved a frenetic work rate that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo moon landing. As the sport arrives on Vegas this weekend, Cadillac are aware the deadline is approaching.
The Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the last event of the campaign to be hosted in the US, with approximately a hundred days to go before they take to the track for the first time in Australia at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a never-ending task, they are conscious there will not be enough hours in the day.
The CTO, Nick Chester, came aboard the embryonic project in early 2023 shortly after it was created, when the squad were without even an official entry. He has been at its heart from that point and has a knowing grin when reflecting on the experience.
“You can have a brief moment reflecting at what the team has achieved and think: ‘Amazing, how impressive what the team has created in less than three years,’” Chester states. “Then the following moment you think: ‘Well, there is still a significant amount to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Task
Chester enjoyed success at the Renault team in Alonso's championship-winning years of 2005 and 2006 and was in command of engineering strategy at the recently formed Mercedes electric racing team, but no previous experience has truly matched the mission of launching the all-American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry sponsored by the parent company, General Motors Corporation, into Formula One.
“Creating an Formula One team from scratch, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” Chester remarks. “There's nothing comparable. In an existing team you won't have the possibility to transform cultural approach.”
With each passing day that goes by minds are increasingly concentrated on the approaching decisive point in Melbourne and targets are being handled.
“You have to assume that any new team coming in is likely to start at the back but merely participating will be an feat in itself,” Graeme Lowdon stated earlier this year and while Chester agreed with this sentiment he believed the organization had a reputation to build as well.
“The first thing we intend to prove is that we belong on the grid,” he says. “So we turn up and we function efficiently. We want to show that we are a serious contender doing the proper actions on the track. Once we’ve shown that we’re really credible, then we will focus on forward movement subsequently.”
Pilot Selection and Recruitment Drive
In late summer they recruited Checo Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their pilots for 2026, a pair notable for their vast knowledge in competing at the sharp end in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull and the Mercedes team, and the Finnish driver echoed the sentiment of determined optimism.
“Naturally, we are pragmatic,” he said. “We face a massive task to do, and it will likely be probably a challenging beginning, because it is F1. But our goal isn't to stay at the back. I believe with this setup, with these individuals, these personnel, it's entirely possible we can't manage to progress rapidly to the front and enjoy some success.”
To achieve that goal hiring has been in overdrive, with personnel now up to in excess of 400 and scheduled to hit the target of 600 swiftly. Complementing their present headquarters at Silverstone, the squad are in the phase of completing an HQ at Fishers, Indiana in the Indianapolis area and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, where they are building the plant to manufacture the new engine, planned for 2029 – in the meantime they will run Ferrari engines – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a sophisticated structure, different from the direction in F1 for more centralization, and has led to the fresh organizational mindset to which Chester alluded.
Apollo Inspiration
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo project,” said the team principal shortly before the British Grand Prix in July. “We are pragmatic, we recognize how difficult it is. The timelines, they’re super, super, super short. Alright, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have implemented, rather than the traditional management structure, a flat management structure similar to that of Nasa’s, where there were a assortment of specialist groups all tackling various components of the program across a variety of locations.
“If you have to go through a protocol where a challenge emerges and they raise it up to their supervisor, that manager talks to a leader at a different location, it goes back down the chain, the process is very slow,” says Chester. “We give authority to staff to really get on with it. Moving away from managerial sign-off for all decisions is so much cleaner and quicker.”
What Lies Ahead
The efficacy of this agile methodology will be tested in the pressure of racing next season and there is a considerable amount at stake for Formula One, too. Cadillac have signed as their reserve driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
