Approximately a full year in the past at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were ultimately granted the go-ahead as F1's latest entry for 2026. Constructing the team from nothing has entailed a hectic operating tempo that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the NASA lunar mission. As Formula One arrives on the Vegas strip this weekend, the team understand the clock is ticking.
The Countdown to Australia
At the last event of the championship to be hosted in the United States, with just over 100 days to go before they hit the circuit for the first time in Australia at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a sisyphean task, they are cognizant there will not be sufficient time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, joined the nascent project in the spring of 2023 soon after it was created, when the squad were without even an approved entry. He has been at its heart from that point and has a amused expression when reflecting on the journey.
“You might get five minutes looking back at what you’ve done and say: ‘Incredible, what an achievement what we’ve done in under three years,’” Chester states. “But then the following moment you realize: ‘Yes, there is still a significant amount to do.’”
A Unique Task
The CTO achieved victories at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s victorious years of the mid-2000s and was in control of technical development at the recently formed Mercedes Formula E team, but no other project has been quite like the mission of introducing the iconic American Cadillac brand, a manufacturer-backed entry sponsored by the corporate entity, General Motors, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Building an Formula One team from nothing, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” Chester remarks. “There's nothing comparable. In an established team you won't have the opportunity to change cultural approach.”
With each day that goes by thoughts are sharper on the approaching critical moment in Australia and goals are being handled.
“You have to assume that any new team coming in is going to be last but simply getting on to the grid will be an achievement in itself,” Graeme Lowdon stated earlier this year and while Nick Chester shared this view he believed the squad had a reputation to build as well.
“The first thing we want to show is that we belong on the grid,” he emphasizes. “In order that we turn up and we perform competently. We want to show that this is a professional operation performing the right things on the track. When we’ve shown that we are a legitimate team, then we aim to demonstrate progression from there on.”
Racing Talent and Hiring Push
In the summer they contracted Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas as their racers for the 2026 season, a duo remarkable for their vast knowledge in competing at the front in two top-tier teams, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes, and the Finnish driver echoed the sentiment of fighting spirit.
“Of course, we are pragmatic,” he said. “We face a mountain of work to do, and it’s going to be probably a difficult start, because this is Formula One. But we’re not there to finish last. I believe with this setup, with these individuals, these people, it's entirely possible we shouldn’t be able to progress rapidly to the front and enjoy some success.”
To that end hiring has been in overdrive, with staff now up to over 400 and intended to hit the goal of 600 quickly. In addition to their existing facility at the Silverstone circuit, the organization are in the phase of finishing an headquarters at Fishers, Indiana in the Indianapolis area and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, where they are constructing the facility to build the 2029 engine, set for 2029 – for now they will operate with Ferrari power units – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne. It is a intricate organization, at odds with the trend in the sport for greater centralisation, and has inspired the innovative team culture to which Nick Chester alluded.
Space Mission Inspiration
“We've drawn heavily from the NASA moon mission,” said the team principal ahead of the British Grand Prix in July. “We are pragmatic, we recognize how difficult it is. The schedules, are extremely compressed. Alright, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have embraced, instead of the traditional management structure, a non-hierarchical approach similar to that of Nasa’s, where there were a assortment of specialist groups all tackling distinct elements of the project across a multiple sites.
“When you must follow a process where a challenge emerges and they escalate it to their team leader, that leader talks to a supervisor in another department, it goes back down the chain, it’s super slow,” explains the CTO. “So we empower staff to handle things directly. Eliminating managerial sign-off for all decisions is much smoother and more rapid.”
The Future
The success of this agile approach will be tested in the heat of competition next season and there is no little amount riding on this for F1, too. Cadillac have recruited as their development driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta
