Approximately a full year previously at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last given the go-ahead as the world of Formula One's newest entry for the 2026 season. Establishing the organization from nothing has entailed a frenetic operating tempo that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the NASA lunar mission. As F1 converges on the Vegas strip this race weekend, Cadillac know time is getting tight.
The Race Against Time to Australia
At the final race of the campaign to be hosted in the United States, with approximately 100 days to go before they make their debut for the first time in Australia at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a monumental challenge, they are aware there will not be adequate time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, came aboard the newly formed team in March 2023 shortly after it was created, when the organization were without even an official entry. He has been at its heart since then and gets a wry smile when considering the journey.
“You can have a short period reflecting at what you’ve done and say: ‘Wow, what an achievement what the team has created in under three years,’” Chester states. “But then the following moment you think: ‘Yeah, there is still a great deal to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Task
Chester enjoyed success at the Renault team in the driver Fernando Alonso's title-winning seasons of 2005 and 2006 and was in command of technical direction at the then-new Mercedes electric racing team, but nothing has quite compared with the task of launching the quintessentially American Cadillac brand, a works entry supported by the parent company, General Motors Corporation, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Building an F1 team from nothing, 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 chance to change team culture.”
With every day that goes by thoughts are sharper on the approaching decisive point in Australia and targets are being set realistically.
“You have to assume that any incoming team coming in is going to be last but merely participating will be an achievement in itself,” the team principal stated earlier this year and while Chester echoed this he believed the team had a statement to make as well.
“The first thing we intend to prove is that we belong on the grid,” Chester explains. “So that we turn up and we operate well. We seek to prove that we’re a proper team doing the proper actions on the circuit. Once we prove that our credentials are solid, then we want to show forward movement subsequently.”
Racing Talent and Hiring Effort
In the summer they contracted Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas as their racers for 2026, a tandem distinguished for their invaluable experience in performing at the sharp end in two top-tier teams, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes, and the Finnish driver echoed the sentiment of combative optimism.
“Certainly, we’re realistic,” he said. “We have a massive task to do, and it will likely be probably a difficult start, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we’re not there to finish last. I am confident given this organization, with this group, these people, there’s no reason why we can't manage to advance swiftly to the front and enjoy some success.”
To achieve that goal hiring has been in overdrive, with employees now at over 400 and intended to reach the target of 600 quickly. Complementing their current base at the UK base, the squad are in the process of finishing an HQ at the Fishers location in the Indianapolis area and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, where they are building the plant to produce the new engine, planned for 2029 – in the meantime they will use Ferrari power units – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Germany. It is a complex organisation, different from the trend in the sport for greater centralisation, and has prompted the innovative team culture to which Chester referred to.
Space Mission Blueprint
“It’s highly modelled on the NASA moon mission,” said the team principal just before the British Grand Prix in the summer. “We’re realistic, we recognize how tough it is. The timelines, they’re super, super, super short. Alright, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have embraced, rather than the usual hierarchical system, a non-hierarchical approach comparable to that of NASA's, where there were a range of specialist groups all focusing on different aspects of the program at a variety of locations.
“In a system where you follow a protocol where someone has a problem and they report it to their team leader, that supervisor consults a leader somewhere else, it goes back down the chain, it’s super slow,” notes the CTO. “We give authority to team members to take charge. Avoiding managerial sign-off for all decisions is much smoother and quicker.”
What Lies Ahead
The success of this flexible methodology will be evaluated in the intensity of Grand Prix next season and there is no little amount on the line for Formula One, too. Cadillac have recruited as their test driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
