Just over one year in the past at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally awarded the go-ahead as the world of Formula One's latest entry for 2026. Establishing the organization from nothing has entailed a frenetic pace of work that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo moon landing. As Formula One arrives on the Vegas strip this race weekend, Cadillac understand the clock is ticking.
The Race Against Time to Australia
At the season finale of the campaign to be staged in the United States, with just over a hundred days to go before they hit the circuit for the maiden outing in Australia at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a monumental endeavor, they are aware there will not be adequate time.
The CTO, Nick Chester, became part of the embryonic project in March 2023 soon after it was established, when the team were without even an approved entry. He has been at its core from that point and enjoys a knowing grin when reflecting on the journey.
“You might get five minutes thinking back at what you have accomplished and think: ‘Incredible, what an achievement what we have built in less than three years,’” he says. “But then the very next instant you realize: ‘Well, there is still a significant amount to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Opportunity
The CTO enjoyed success at the Renault team in Alonso's championship-winning campaigns of 2005 and 2006 and was in command of technical direction at the then-new Mercedes Formula E team, but nothing has been quite like the mission of launching the iconic American Cadillac name, a works entry sponsored by the corporate entity, General Motors Corporation, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Building an grand prix team from scratch, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he observes. “There's nothing comparable. In an established team you rarely get the possibility to alter organizational mindset.”
With each passing day that goes by focus are sharper on the looming critical moment in Australia and targets are being set realistically.
“One must presume that any new team entering the sport is probably going to finish last but just making it to the starting line will be an accomplishment in itself,” Graeme Lowdon noted earlier this year and while the CTO agreed with this sentiment he believed the organization had a statement to make as well.
“The initial objective we want to show is that we belong on the grid,” he says. “So that we arrive and we perform competently. We seek to prove that we’re a proper team performing the proper actions on the race track. Once we have demonstrated that our credentials are solid, then we will focus on forward movement after that.”
Racing Talent and Recruitment Drive
In August they contracted Checo Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their drivers for the 2026 season, a tandem notable for their vast knowledge in performing at the front in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull and Mercedes, and Valtteri Bottas echoed the sentiment of determined optimism.
“Naturally, we are pragmatic,” he commented. “We face a mountain of work to do, and it will likely be almost certainly a difficult start, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we aren't joining to stay at the back. I believe given this organization, with this team, this staff, there is every reason that we shouldn’t be able to get relatively quickly to the front and enjoy some success.”
To that end staff acquisition has been in full swing, with employees now at over 400 and planned to hit the goal of 600 members swiftly. Complementing their existing facility at the Silverstone circuit, the organization are in the process of completing an headquarters at the Fishers location in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM works in North Carolina, where they are constructing the facility to manufacture the power unit, scheduled for 2029 – for now they will run Ferrari power units – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne, Germany. It is a intricate organisation, at odds with the direction in Formula One for more centralization, and has led to the fresh organizational mindset to which Nick Chester referred.
NASA Model
“It's closely based on the Apollo program,” stated Graeme Lowdon just before the British Grand Prix in the summer. “We have a clear-eyed view, we understand how tough it is. The deadlines, they’re super, super, super short. Well, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have implemented, instead of the conventional chain of command, a non-hierarchical approach similar to that of the space agency's, where there were a variety of project teams all tackling distinct elements of the project across a variety of locations.
“When you must follow a procedure where a challenge emerges and they raise it up to their supervisor, that manager talks to a leader somewhere else, it travels back down, it becomes inefficient,” notes Chester. “So we empower team members to handle things directly. Eliminating management approval for all decisions is much smoother and more rapid.”
What Lies Ahead
The efficacy of this agile methodology will be tested in the pressure of racing when the season begins and there is a considerable amount riding on this for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their reserve driver the emerging American Colton Herta
