Just over twelve months previously at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last granted the green light as Formula One’s latest participant for 2026. Building the organization from scratch has involved a hectic pace of work that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo moon landing. As Formula One arrives on Las Vegas this weekend, the team are aware the deadline is approaching.
The Tight Timeline to Melbourne
At the last event of the championship to be hosted in the US, with around 100 days to go before they take to the track for the maiden outing in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a sisyphean endeavor, they are conscious there will not be adequate time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, came aboard the embryonic project in March 2023 not long after it was created, when the squad were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its center since then and gets a amused expression when considering the journey.
“There might be a short period looking back at what the team has achieved and think: ‘Incredible, how impressive what we have built in a short three-year period,’” he says. “And then the very next instant you consider: ‘Yes, we still have quite a lot to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Challenge
The CTO achieved victories at the Renault team in Alonso's victorious years of 2005/2006 and was in control of technical development at the then-new Mercedes Formula E team, but no previous experience has been quite like the mission of bringing the all-American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry backed by the owner, General Motors Corporation, into Formula One.
“Creating an grand prix team from the ground up, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he says. “There's nothing comparable. In an well-set team you rarely get the chance to change team culture.”
With each day that goes by thoughts are more focused on the looming critical moment in Melbourne and goals are being managed.
“It's reasonable to expect that a brand-new squad entering the sport is probably going to finish last but merely participating will be an feat in itself,” the team principal commented recently and while Nick Chester echoed this he believed the team had a statement to make as well.
“The first thing we want to show is that we belong on the grid,” he says. “So that we arrive and we perform competently. We want to show that we are a serious contender executing the proper actions on the circuit. After we’ve shown that we’re really credible, then we aim to demonstrate improvement subsequently.”
Pilot Selection and Hiring Drive
In August they signed Checo Pérez and Valtteri as their drivers for 2026, a tandem notable for their priceless expertise in performing at the sharp end in two championship-winning squads, the Red Bull team and Mercedes-AMG, and the Finnish driver expressed the attitude of combative optimism.
“Certainly, we have a realistic outlook,” he said. “There’s going to be a massive task to do, and it will likely be probably a challenging beginning, because it is F1. But our goal isn't to finish last. I am confident given this organization, with this team, these people, there is every reason that we can't manage to progress rapidly to a competitive level and achieve good results.”
To realize that ambition hiring has been in top gear, with personnel now up to over 400 and planned to attain the goal of 600 members quickly. In addition to their existing facility at the UK base, the team are in the midst of completing an HQ at Fishers, Indiana in Indy and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, where they are building the center to produce the new engine, set for the 2029 season – in the meantime they will operate with power from Ferrari – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a intricate structure, different from the trend in F1 for greater centralisation, and has inspired the innovative team culture to which Chester alluded.
Apollo Model
“We've drawn heavily from the NASA moon mission,” remarked Lowdon just before the British GP in July. “We are pragmatic, we understand how difficult it is. The timelines, they’re super, super, super short. Alright, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have embraced, instead of the traditional management structure, a non-hierarchical approach comparable to that of NASA's, where there were a variety of Apollo teams all focusing on distinct elements of the mission at a variety of locations.
“In a system where you follow a procedure where an issue arises and they escalate it to their supervisor, that supervisor communicates with a manager at a different location, it is relayed back, the process is very slow,” notes Chester. “Therefore we enable staff to take charge. Eliminating hierarchical consent for all decisions is so much cleaner and faster.”
What Lies Ahead
The success of this flexible approach will be tested in the heat of competition when the season begins and there is a significant degree at stake for Formula One, too. Cadillac have recruited as their development driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta
