Approximately one year in the past at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally granted the green light as the world of Formula One's newest participant for the 2026 season. Constructing the squad from nothing has involved a intense work rate that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the NASA lunar mission. As the sport descends on the Vegas strip this weekend, Cadillac know the clock is ticking.
The Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the last event of the championship to be held in the America, with around a hundred days to go before they take to the track for the inaugural time in Melbourne at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a never-ending challenge, they are cognizant there will not be adequate time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, came aboard the newly formed operation in March 2023 soon after it was created, when the team were without even an approved entry. He has been at its heart from that point and enjoys a knowing grin when considering the ride.
“You might get a brief moment looking back at what you’ve done and go: ‘Amazing, what an achievement what the team has created in under three years,’” Chester states. “And then the following moment you consider: ‘Yeah, we’ve still got quite a lot to do.’”
A Unique Task
The CTO enjoyed success at Renault in Alonso's victorious years of 2005 and 2006 and was in command of technical development at the new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but nothing has truly matched the task of bringing the quintessentially American Cadillac marque, a manufacturer-backed entry sponsored by the owner, GM, into F1.
“Building an Formula One team from the ground up, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” Chester remarks. “It is like nothing else. In an well-set team you don’t get the chance to transform cultural approach.”
With each passing day that passes focus are increasingly concentrated on the impending moment of truth in Australia and targets are being handled.
“One must presume that a brand-new squad coming in is likely to start at the back but just making it to the starting line will be an achievement in itself,” Lowdon noted this year and while the CTO echoed this he believed the squad had a reputation to build as well.
“The initial objective we aim to demonstrate is that we should be there,” he emphasizes. “So we turn up and we operate well. We aim to demonstrate that this is a professional operation performing the proper actions on the circuit. After we prove that our credentials are solid, then we want to show progression from there on.”
Racing Talent and Hiring Effort
In late summer they signed Sergio Perez and Valtteri as their drivers for 2026, a duo notable for their priceless expertise in operating at the front in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull and the Mercedes team, and the Finnish driver echoed the attitude of determined optimism.
“Of course, we are pragmatic,” he commented. “There’s going to be a massive task to do, and we expect almost certainly a tough opening, because this is Formula One. But our goal isn't to remain at the rear. I believe with this setup, with these individuals, these personnel, it's entirely possible we can't manage to progress rapidly up to the pace and achieve good results.”
To that end recruitment has been in full swing, with staff now reaching over 400 and intended to attain the target of 600 members quickly. Complementing their present headquarters at the UK base, the organization are in the process of completing an headquarters at Fishers, Indiana in Indy and there is the GM plant in North Carolina, where they are developing the plant to produce the 2029 engine, scheduled for the 2029 season – in the meantime they will run Ferrari engines – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a sophisticated organization, contrary to the trend in Formula One for increased consolidation, and has prompted the new cultural approach to which the CTO alluded.
NASA Model
“It’s highly modelled on the NASA moon mission,” remarked Graeme Lowdon shortly before the British Grand Prix in the summer. “We are pragmatic, we understand how tough it is. The schedules, they’re super, super, super short. Alright, it's not a space expedition, but it can seem that way.”
So they have embraced, rather than the traditional management structure, a non-hierarchical approach akin to that of NASA's, where there were a variety of specialist groups all tackling various components of the mission across a multiple sites.
“In a system where you follow a procedure where someone has a problem and they escalate it to their team leader, that manager consults a leader in another department, it travels back down, the process is very slow,” explains Nick Chester. “So we empower staff to really get on with it. Avoiding hierarchical consent for all decisions is far more efficient and quicker.”
Upcoming Challenges
The effectiveness of this nimble approach will be tested in the heat of competition when the season begins and there is no little amount on the line for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have taken on as their development driver the young Californian Colton Herta
