Approximately twelve months ago at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were ultimately given the green light as the world of Formula One's newest participant for the 2026 season. Establishing the squad from scratch has involved a frenetic pace of work that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the NASA lunar mission. As Formula One converges on the Vegas strip this race weekend, Cadillac know the clock is ticking.
The Tight Timeline to Australia
At the last event of the championship to be hosted in the United States, with approximately a hundred days to go before they make their debut for the first time in Melbourne at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a sisyphean challenge, they are aware there will not be adequate time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, joined the newly formed operation in March 2023 shortly after it was formed, when the team were without even an approved entry. He has been at its core from that point and enjoys a knowing grin when thinking about the journey.
“There might be a brief moment reflecting at what the team has achieved and say: ‘Amazing, what an achievement what we have built in less than three years,’” Chester states. “And then the following moment you think: ‘Yeah, we’ve still got a significant amount to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Task
Chester had success at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s victorious campaigns of 2005 and 2006 and was in command of technical development at the new Mercedes electric racing team, but no previous experience has truly matched the task of introducing the iconic American Cadillac marque, a works entry backed by the parent company, GM, into Formula One.
“Building an grand prix team from the ground up, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” Chester remarks. “There's nothing comparable. In an existing team you rarely get the possibility to alter organizational mindset.”
With each day that passes minds are sharper on the approaching decisive point in Australia and targets are being handled.
“One must presume that a brand-new squad joining the grid is probably going to finish last but merely participating will be an achievement in itself,” the team principal commented this year and while the CTO shared this view he felt the organization had a point to prove as well.
“Our primary goal we intend to prove is that we deserve to be there,” he says. “So we turn up and we function efficiently. We aim to demonstrate that we are a serious contender doing the proper actions on the track. After we prove that we are a legitimate team, then we aim to demonstrate forward movement from there on.”
Pilot Selection and Recruitment Drive
In August they signed Sergio Pérez and Bottas as their pilots for 2026, a duo remarkable for their vast knowledge in operating at the front in two top-tier teams, Red Bull and Mercedes-AMG, and the Finnish driver echoed the sentiment of determined optimism.
“Certainly, we have a realistic outlook,” he commented. “There’s going to be a massive task to do, and it will likely be almost certainly a tough opening, because it is F1. But we’re not there to finish last. I am confident given this organization, with these individuals, these people, there is every reason that we won't be able to progress rapidly up to the pace and taste victory.”
To achieve that goal recruitment has been in full swing, with personnel now reaching more than 400 and intended to reach the target of six hundred rapidly. Alongside their existing facility at the Silverstone circuit, the squad are in the midst of finishing an headquarters at Fishers, Indiana in Indianapolis and there is the General Motors facility in North Carolina, where they are constructing the facility to build the 2029 engine, scheduled for 2029 – in the meantime they will use power from Ferrari – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne. It is a sophisticated organization, contrary to the direction in F1 for increased consolidation, and has led to the fresh organizational mindset to which Nick Chester alluded.
NASA Model
“It's closely based on the Apollo program,” said Graeme Lowdon just before the British GP in the summer. “We are pragmatic, we recognize how tough it is. The schedules, are incredibly tight. Alright, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it can seem that way.”
So they have implemented, instead of the traditional management structure, a decentralized management similar to that of NASA's, where there were a variety of Apollo teams all working on distinct elements of the mission at a multiple sites.
“In a system where you follow a protocol where a challenge emerges and they report it to their manager, that leader communicates with a leader somewhere else, it is relayed back, the process is very slow,” says the CTO. “We give authority to people to handle things directly. Avoiding managerial sign-off for all decisions is so much cleaner and quicker.”
What Lies Ahead
The success of this flexible strategy will be evaluated in the pressure of racing when the season begins and there is a considerable amount at stake for F1, too. Cadillac have taken on as their development driver the young American Colton Herta
