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Approximately a full year previously at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last given the go-ahead as Formula One’s newest entrant for the 2026 season. Constructing the organization from the ground up has required a frenetic operating tempo that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo moon landing. As Formula One converges on the Vegas strip this race weekend, the team understand the clock is ticking.

The Race Against Time to Melbourne

At the last event of the campaign to be hosted in the America, with around a hundred days to go before they make their debut for the inaugural time in Australia at the first race of 2026, the Cadillac F1 project have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a never-ending task, they are conscious there will never be adequate time.

The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, became part of the embryonic team in the spring of 2023 not long after it was formed, when the squad were without even an official entry. He has been at its heart since then and gets a wry smile when reflecting on the ride.

“There might be a short period reflecting at what you have accomplished and think: ‘Wow, how impressive what the team has created in less than three years,’” he says. “But then the following moment you think: ‘Yes, we still have a significant amount to do.’”

A One-of-a-Kind Opportunity

Nick Chester achieved victories at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s championship-winning years of 2005 and 2006 and was in charge of technical development at the new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no other project has been quite like the mission of launching the iconic American Cadillac marque, a works entry sponsored by the owner, General Motors Corporation, into the pinnacle of motorsport.

“Creating an grand prix team from nothing, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he observes. “It's unparalleled. In an well-set team you won't have the opportunity to alter team culture.”

With each day that goes by minds are sharper on the approaching decisive point in Melbourne and targets are being set realistically.

“One must presume that a brand-new squad joining the grid is likely to start at the back but simply getting on to the grid will be an feat in itself,” Graeme Lowdon commented earlier this year and while Nick Chester agreed with this sentiment he felt the squad had a point to prove as well.

“The initial objective we want to show is that we should be there,” Chester explains. “In order that we show up and we perform competently. We seek to prove that we are a serious contender performing the right things on the track. After we’ve shown that our credentials are solid, then we want to show forward movement from there on.”

Pilot Selection and Team Building Push

In the summer they recruited Checo Pérez and Valtteri as their drivers for 2026, a pair notable for their invaluable experience in operating at the leading positions in two top-tier teams, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes, and the Finnish driver expressed the attitude of fighting spirit.

“Of course, we’re realistic,” he commented. “We face a massive task to do, and we expect almost certainly a difficult start, because this is Formula One. But our goal isn't to remain at the rear. I believe with this setup, with this team, these personnel, it's entirely possible we shouldn’t be able to progress rapidly to a competitive level and achieve good results.”

To that end staff acquisition has been in full swing, with employees now reaching in excess of 400 and planned to hit the goal of six hundred swiftly. Alongside their existing facility at the Silverstone circuit, the team are in the process of completing an HQ at the Fishers location in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are building the center to manufacture the 2029 engine, set for 2029 – in the meantime they will use Ferrari power units – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a sophisticated structure, at odds with the trend in Formula One for greater centralisation, and has led to the new cultural approach to which the CTO referred to.

Apollo Inspiration

“It's closely based on the NASA moon mission,” stated Lowdon ahead of the Silverstone race in the summer. “We are pragmatic, we recognize how difficult it is. The schedules, are extremely compressed. Alright, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it feels like it sometimes.”

So they have embraced, rather than the usual hierarchical system, a decentralized management akin to that of NASA's, where there were a variety of specialist groups all tackling various components of the project at a different facilities.

“When you must follow a process where someone has a problem and they raise it up to their team leader, that manager communicates with a supervisor at a different location, it goes back down the chain, it’s super slow,” notes the CTO. “So we empower staff to take charge. Eliminating hierarchical consent for everything is far more efficient and quicker.”

What Lies Ahead

The efficacy of this agile approach will be proven in the intensity of Grand Prix when the season begins and there is a significant degree at stake for F1, too. Cadillac have recruited as their reserve driver the emerging American Colton Herta