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A little more than twelve months previously at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally given the go-ahead as F1's newest entrant for the 2026 season. Constructing the organization from the ground up has involved a frenetic work rate that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo program. As F1 converges on Vegas this weekend, the team know the clock is ticking.

The Countdown to Melbourne

At the final race of the championship to be held in the US, with just over a hundred days to go before they take to the track for the inaugural time in Australia at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a monumental task, they are conscious there will never be adequate time.

The CTO, Nick Chester, joined the newly formed project in early 2023 shortly after it was established, when the team were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its heart from that point and has a wry smile when considering the journey.

“You can have a brief moment reflecting at what you’ve done and say: ‘Incredible, how impressive what we have built in under three years,’” Chester states. “Then the next minute you consider: ‘Yes, we’ve still got a significant amount to do.’”

A Unique Opportunity

Chester achieved victories at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s title-winning years of 2005/2006 and was in charge of technical direction at the then-new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no other project has quite compared with the mission of introducing the iconic American Cadillac brand, a factory team supported by the corporate entity, General Motors, into the pinnacle of motorsport.

“Establishing an Formula One team from scratch, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” Chester remarks. “It is like nothing else. In an established team you don’t get the opportunity to alter team culture.”

With each passing day that elapses thoughts are sharper on the approaching moment of truth in the Australian GP and targets are being managed.

“One must presume that a brand-new squad entering the sport is likely to start at the back but merely participating will be an achievement in itself,” Graeme Lowdon stated this year and while Chester echoed this he thought the squad had a point to prove as well.

“The initial objective we intend to prove is that we deserve to be there,” he emphasizes. “In order that we arrive and we perform competently. We aim to demonstrate that this is a professional operation doing the correct procedures on the circuit. When we have demonstrated that we are a legitimate team, then we will focus on improvement subsequently.”

Racing Talent and Recruitment Drive

In late summer they signed Sergio Pérez and Bottas as their pilots for 2026, a tandem distinguished for their priceless expertise in performing at the front in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes, and the Finnish driver expressed the mood of determined optimism.

“Of course, we have a realistic outlook,” he commented. “There’s going to be a massive task to do, and we expect almost certainly a tough opening, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we’re not there to stay at the back. I believe with this setup, with these individuals, this staff, it's entirely possible we shouldn’t be able to get relatively quickly up to the pace and taste victory.”

To realize that ambition recruitment has been in top gear, with staff now reaching over 400 and scheduled to hit the goal of six hundred swiftly. Alongside their current base at Silverstone, the team are in the process of completing an main base at Fishers in the Indianapolis area and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, where they are building the plant to build the 2029 engine, scheduled for 2029 – for now they will use Ferrari power units – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a sophisticated organisation, contrary to the movement in the sport for greater centralisation, and has led to the new cultural approach to which Chester referred to.

Apollo Inspiration

“It's closely based on the NASA moon mission,” said Graeme Lowdon ahead of the Silverstone race in mid-season. “We’re realistic, we understand how difficult it is. The timelines, are incredibly tight. Alright, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but the pressure is comparable.”

So they have implemented, as opposed to the conventional chain of command, a flat management structure comparable to that of Nasa’s, where there were a variety of project teams all tackling various components of the program at a different facilities.

“If you have to go through a procedure where an issue arises and they escalate it to their manager, that leader consults a manager somewhere else, it travels back down, it becomes inefficient,” explains the CTO. “We give authority to staff to take charge. Avoiding hierarchical consent for each action is so much cleaner and quicker.”

Upcoming Challenges

The success of this agile approach will be evaluated in the heat of competition next season and there is a considerable amount riding on this for F1, too. Cadillac have taken on as their development driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta