Just over a full year ago at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally awarded the green light as the world of Formula One's newest entrant for 2026. Establishing the team from the ground up has required a hectic pace of work that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo moon landing. As Formula One descends on Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac know the deadline is approaching.
The Tight Timeline to Australia
At the last event of the season to be hosted in the America, with just over 100 days to go before they hit the circuit for the inaugural time in Australia at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a sisyphean task, they are cognizant there will not be sufficient time.
The technical director, Nick Chester, joined the nascent operation in the spring of 2023 soon after it was created, when the team were without even an official entry. He has been at its heart since then and has a knowing grin when thinking about the ride.
“You might get a brief moment reflecting at what you’ve done and say: ‘Wow, isn’t this fantastic what we have built in less than three years,’” he notes. “And then the next minute you consider: ‘Yeah, we’ve still got quite a lot to do.’”
A Unique Opportunity
Chester had success at the Renault team in Alonso's championship-winning seasons of 2005 and 2006 and was in charge of technical direction at the then-new Mercedes Formula E team, but no other project has quite compared with the challenge of introducing the all-American Cadillac brand, a works entry supported by the owner, General Motors Corporation, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Creating an grand prix team from scratch, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” Chester remarks. “It is like nothing else. In an established team you don’t get the chance to alter team culture.”
With each passing day that elapses focus are more focused on the approaching critical moment in Melbourne and goals are being managed.
“You have to assume that any incoming team joining the grid is probably going to finish last but simply getting on to the grid will be an feat in itself,” the team principal commented this year and while the CTO shared this view he thought the team had a point to prove as well.
“The initial objective we aim to demonstrate is that we deserve to be there,” Chester explains. “So we turn up and we perform competently. We seek to prove that this is a professional operation doing the proper actions on the circuit. After we prove that we’re really credible, then we want to show forward movement subsequently.”
Pilot Selection and Hiring Push
In the summer they contracted Checo Pérez and Bottas as their drivers for the 2026 season, a duo remarkable for their priceless expertise in operating at the sharp end in two top-tier teams, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes-AMG, and Bottas expressed the mood of determined optimism.
“Of course, we’re realistic,” he said. “There’s going to be a huge amount of work to do, and we expect most likely a difficult start, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we’re not there to remain at the rear. In my view with this structure, with this team, these personnel, it's entirely possible we won't be able to advance swiftly to the front and taste victory.”
To achieve that goal staff acquisition has been in overdrive, with staff now at over 400 and planned to reach the objective of 600 members quickly. Complementing their existing facility at the Silverstone circuit, the squad are in the phase of finishing an HQ at Fishers in Indianapolis and there is the GM plant in North Carolina, where they are constructing the center to manufacture the new engine, set for 2029 – for now they will run power from Ferrari – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a intricate organisation, different from the direction in Formula One for more centralization, and has led to the innovative team culture to which Chester alluded.
Space Mission Model
“It’s highly modelled on the NASA moon mission,” remarked Graeme Lowdon shortly before the Silverstone race in the summer. “We’re realistic, we understand how tough it is. The schedules, are incredibly tight. OK, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it can seem that way.”
So they have embraced, instead of the usual hierarchical system, a flat management structure similar to that of Nasa’s, where there were a range of project teams all tackling various components of the mission at a variety of locations.
“When you must follow a protocol where a challenge emerges and they report it to their manager, that supervisor communicates with a supervisor at a different location, it is relayed back, the process is very slow,” explains the CTO. “We give authority to staff 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 agile strategy will be proven in the heat of competition next season and there is a significant degree at stake for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their development driver the young American Colton Herta
