A little more than a full year in the past at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally granted the green light as Formula One’s latest participant for the 2026 season. Establishing the team from scratch has required a intense operating tempo that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo moon landing. As the sport arrives on Vegas this race weekend, the team are aware time is getting tight.
The Tight Timeline to Melbourne
At the season finale of the season to be held in the America, with around three months to go before they take to the track for the maiden outing in Australia at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a monumental task, they are aware there will never be sufficient time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, became part of the nascent team in March 2023 soon after it was formed, when the squad were without even an official entry. He has been at its center since then and has a wry smile when considering the journey.
“You can have a short period thinking back at what you’ve done and think: ‘Incredible, how impressive what we’ve done in less than three years,’” he says. “And then the very next instant you consider: ‘Well, there is still quite a lot to do.’”
An Unprecedented Opportunity
Nick Chester enjoyed success at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s title-winning seasons of the mid-2000s and was in command of technical direction at the recently formed Mercedes electric racing team, but no previous experience has quite compared with the challenge of introducing the quintessentially American Cadillac brand, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the parent company, General Motors Corporation, into Formula One.
“Building an Formula One team from scratch, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” Chester remarks. “It is like nothing else. In an existing team you don’t get the opportunity to transform cultural approach.”
With every day that elapses focus are more focused on the approaching decisive point in the Australian GP and targets are being set realistically.
“You have to assume that any new team coming in is likely to start at the back but simply getting on to the grid will be an achievement in itself,” Lowdon noted this year and while the CTO echoed this he believed the squad had a reputation to build as well.
“The first thing we aim to demonstrate is that we should be there,” Chester explains. “So we show up and we operate well. We want to show that this is a professional operation executing the proper actions on the track. Once we have demonstrated that our credentials are solid, then we will focus on forward movement from there on.”
Racing Talent and Hiring Effort
In the summer they recruited Sergio Pérez and Bottas as their pilots for 2026, a tandem remarkable for their invaluable experience in performing at the sharp end in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes-AMG, and Bottas reflected the sentiment of combative optimism.
“Naturally, we’re realistic,” Bottas stated. “We face a huge amount of work to do, and we expect most likely a tough opening, because this is Formula One. But our goal isn't to remain at the rear. I believe given this organization, with this team, these people, there’s no reason why we won't be able to get relatively quickly up to the pace and achieve good results.”
To achieve that goal hiring has been in full swing, with staff now reaching over 400 and intended to attain the goal of six hundred rapidly. Complementing their current base at the UK base, the team are in the process of completing an HQ at Fishers, Indiana in Indianapolis and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are building the plant to manufacture the new engine, scheduled for the 2029 season – until then they will use power from Ferrari – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a intricate organisation, different from the direction in Formula One for greater centralisation, and has inspired the innovative team culture to which Nick Chester alluded.
Space Mission Blueprint
“It's closely based on the Apollo project,” said the team principal ahead of the Silverstone race in mid-season. “We are pragmatic, we recognize how tough it is. The timelines, are extremely compressed. Alright, it's not a space expedition, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have implemented, instead of the traditional management structure, a flat management structure comparable to that of the space agency's, where there were a range of specialist groups all focusing on distinct elements of the program in a different facilities.
“If you have to go through a procedure where an issue arises and they report it to their manager, that leader talks to a leader in another department, it goes back down the chain, it becomes inefficient,” notes the CTO. “So we empower team members to handle things directly. Moving away from hierarchical consent for each action is far more efficient and faster.”
What Lies Ahead
The success of this nimble strategy will be tested in the heat of competition next season and there is a considerable amount at stake for Formula One, too. Cadillac have taken on as their test driver the young Californian Colton Herta
