Approximately twelve months ago at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately awarded the go-ahead as Formula One’s most recent entrant for the 2026 season. Building the organization from scratch has required a hectic operating tempo that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo program. As the sport descends on Vegas this weekend, Cadillac understand the clock is ticking.
The Tight Timeline to Melbourne
At the final race of the championship to be staged in the America, with approximately three months to go before they hit the circuit for the inaugural time in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a sisyphean challenge, they are conscious there will not be enough hours in the day.
The CTO, Nick Chester, became part of the nascent operation in March 2023 shortly after it was formed, when the organization were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its heart ever since and enjoys a wry smile when thinking about the journey.
“You can have five minutes thinking back at what the team has achieved and go: ‘Wow, what an achievement what we have built in under three years,’” he notes. “Then the next minute you think: ‘Yes, we’ve still got a great deal to do.’”
An Unprecedented Task
Chester had success at Renault in Alonso's championship-winning seasons of 2005 and 2006 and was in control of engineering strategy at the new Mercedes Formula E team, but nothing has been quite like the task of launching the iconic American Cadillac name, a factory team sponsored by the corporate entity, General Motors Corporation, into Formula One.
“Building an F1 team from the ground up, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he observes. “There's nothing comparable. In an well-set team you don’t get the opportunity to alter team culture.”
With each passing day that passes thoughts are sharper on the looming moment of truth in Australia and goals are being handled.
“You have to assume that a brand-new squad joining the grid is going to be last but merely participating will be an feat in itself,” Lowdon noted earlier this year and while Nick Chester agreed with this sentiment he felt the team had a reputation to build as well.
“Our primary goal we aim to demonstrate is that we belong on the grid,” he says. “So that we arrive and we perform competently. We aim to demonstrate that we are a serious contender doing the proper actions on the circuit. Once we have demonstrated that we’re really credible, then we will focus on progression after that.”
Pilot Selection and Team Building Effort
In the summer they signed Checo Pérez and Bottas as their pilots for 2026, a pair distinguished for their vast knowledge in competing at the front in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull and Mercedes-AMG, and Bottas reflected the sentiment of combative optimism.
“Naturally, we’re realistic,” Bottas stated. “We have a huge amount of work to do, and it will likely be most likely a difficult start, because it is F1. But we’re not there to remain at the rear. In my view given this organization, with these individuals, these people, there’s no reason why we won't be able to get relatively quickly to the front and taste victory.”
To achieve that goal staff acquisition has been in overdrive, with employees now at more than 400 and scheduled to reach the goal of 600 swiftly. Alongside their current base at the UK base, the team are in the phase of finishing an main base at the Fishers location in Indy and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, where they are developing the center to build the power unit, planned for 2029 – in the meantime they will operate with Ferrari engines – and the aerodynamic facility in Germany. It is a sophisticated organization, at odds with the trend in the sport for more centralization, and has inspired the innovative team culture to which the CTO referred.
NASA Model
“We've drawn heavily from the NASA moon mission,” remarked the team principal ahead of the Silverstone race in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we recognize how difficult it is. The deadlines, they’re super, super, super short. Well, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have adopted, as opposed to the traditional management structure, a flat management structure similar to that of NASA's, where there were a variety of Apollo teams all tackling various components of the mission in a different facilities.
“If you have to go through a procedure where a challenge emerges and they escalate it to their supervisor, that supervisor talks to a supervisor somewhere else, it is relayed back, it’s super slow,” notes the CTO. “So we empower staff to handle things directly. Moving away from hierarchical consent for all decisions is so much cleaner and faster.”
What Lies Ahead
The success of this nimble strategy will be proven in the heat of competition when the season begins and there is no little amount on the line for Formula One, too. Cadillac have taken on as their test driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta
