A little more than one year in the past at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last granted the go-ahead as the world of Formula One's most recent entrant for 2026. Establishing the organization from nothing has entailed a intense work rate that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo moon landing. As F1 descends on Las Vegas this weekend, the team understand time is getting tight.
The Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the final race of the season to be staged in the America, with approximately 100 days to go before they make their debut for the first time in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a sisyphean endeavor, they are conscious there will not be sufficient time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, came aboard the embryonic operation in March 2023 soon after it was created, when the organization were without even an approved entry. He has been at its heart ever since and has a knowing grin when reflecting on the ride.
“There might be a short period reflecting at what you have accomplished and say: ‘Amazing, how impressive what the team has created in under three years,’” he says. “Then the following moment you consider: ‘Yeah, there is still a great deal to do.’”
An Unprecedented Task
The CTO achieved victories at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s championship-winning seasons of 2005 and 2006 and was in control of technical direction at the recently formed Mercedes Formula E team, but no previous experience has truly matched the challenge of bringing the quintessentially American Cadillac name, a works entry supported by the owner, General Motors Corporation, into F1.
“Creating an grand prix team from scratch, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he says. “It is like nothing else. In an established team you rarely get the opportunity to alter organizational mindset.”
With each passing day that goes by minds are more focused on the looming decisive point in Australia and expectations are being managed.
“You have to assume that any new team entering the sport is probably going to finish last but just making it to the starting line will be an achievement in itself,” the team principal commented recently and while Chester echoed this he felt the squad had a point to prove as well.
“Our primary goal we aim to demonstrate is that we belong on the grid,” he emphasizes. “So that we turn up and we operate well. We aim to demonstrate that we’re a proper team performing the correct procedures on the circuit. After we prove that we are a legitimate team, then we aim to demonstrate forward movement from there on.”
Pilot Selection and Team Building Drive
In late summer they contracted Sergio Perez and Valtteri as their drivers for 2026, a pair notable for their invaluable experience in competing at the sharp end in two of the sport’s biggest teams, the Red Bull team and Mercedes, and the Finnish driver echoed the attitude of combative optimism.
“Certainly, we have a realistic outlook,” he commented. “We face a huge amount of work to do, and it’s going to 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 people, it's entirely possible we can't manage to advance swiftly to a competitive level and achieve good results.”
To that end recruitment has been in full swing, with personnel now at in excess of 400 and planned to attain the objective of 600 rapidly. In addition to their present headquarters at the UK base, the team are in the phase of building an HQ at Fishers in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM works in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are building the center to build the 2029 engine, scheduled for 2029 – for now they will run Ferrari engines – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a complex organisation, different from the movement in the sport for greater centralisation, and has inspired the fresh organizational mindset to which Nick Chester referred.
Apollo Blueprint
“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo program,” said Lowdon just before the British Grand Prix in mid-season. “We have a clear-eyed view, we understand how difficult it is. The deadlines, they’re super, super, super short. OK, it's not a space expedition, but it can seem that way.”
So they have implemented, as opposed to the usual hierarchical system, a flat management structure akin to that of Nasa’s, where there were a variety of Apollo teams all working on distinct elements of the mission at a variety of locations.
“If you have to go through a protocol where an issue arises and they escalate it to their team leader, that leader talks to a leader at a different location, it travels back down, it’s super slow,” notes Chester. “Therefore we enable staff to take charge. Eliminating hierarchical consent for everything is much smoother and quicker.”
What Lies Ahead
The success of this agile strategy will be tested in the intensity of Grand Prix in 2026 and there is a significant degree at stake for Formula One, too. Cadillac have signed as their development driver the young American Colton Herta
