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Just over one year ago at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were at last granted the official approval as the world of Formula One's latest entry for 2026. Constructing the team from the ground up has involved a intense pace of work that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo program. As the sport descends on the Vegas strip this weekend, the team know the deadline is approaching.

The Race Against Time to Melbourne

At the season finale of the championship to be held in the America, with just over a hundred days to go before they make their debut for the inaugural time in Australia at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a monumental challenge, they are aware there will not be enough hours in the day.

The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, became part of the newly formed project in early 2023 soon after it was established, when the team were without even an official entry. He has been at its core since then and enjoys a amused expression when reflecting on the experience.

“You can have five minutes thinking back at what you have accomplished and think: ‘Amazing, isn’t this fantastic what we’ve done in under three years,’” he says. “But then the very next instant you consider: ‘Well, there is still a significant amount to do.’”

A One-of-a-Kind Task

The CTO enjoyed success at the Renault team in the driver Fernando Alonso's championship-winning years of 2005/2006 and was in command of engineering strategy at the then-new Mercedes electric racing team, but nothing has been quite like the mission of introducing the iconic American Cadillac marque, a factory team supported by the corporate entity, GM, into the pinnacle of motorsport.

“Establishing an Formula One team from the ground up, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he says. “It is like nothing else. In an existing team you rarely get the possibility to change organizational mindset.”

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

“You have to assume that a brand-new squad joining the grid is likely to start at the back but just making it to the starting line will be an feat in itself,” Lowdon noted earlier this year and while Nick Chester shared this view he thought the team had a statement to make as well.

“Our primary goal we intend to prove is that we deserve to be there,” he emphasizes. “In order that we turn up and we function efficiently. We want to show that this is a professional operation doing the right things on the circuit. When we have demonstrated that we’re really credible, then we will focus on progression subsequently.”

Racing Talent and Hiring Push

In late summer they recruited Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas as their pilots for 2026, a duo distinguished for their invaluable experience in operating at the front in two top-tier teams, the Red Bull team and the Mercedes team, and Bottas echoed the attitude of fighting spirit.

“Of course, we have a realistic outlook,” Bottas stated. “There’s going to be a mountain of work to do, and it will likely be probably a difficult start, because it is F1. But we aren't joining to finish last. In my view with this structure, with this group, this staff, it's entirely possible we won't be able to advance swiftly up to the pace and achieve good results.”

To realize that ambition staff acquisition has been in top gear, with employees now at more than 400 and planned to hit the goal of six hundred quickly. In addition to their current base at Silverstone, the team are in the midst of completing an main base at Fishers, Indiana in Indianapolis and there is the GM works in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are building the center to manufacture the power unit, set for the 2029 season – until then they will run Ferrari power units – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Germany. It is a intricate organisation, contrary to the direction in Formula One for more centralization, and has prompted the new cultural approach to which the CTO referred.

Space Mission Inspiration

“It's closely based on the Apollo program,” said Lowdon shortly before the British GP in mid-season. “We have a clear-eyed view, we understand how tough it is. The timelines, are incredibly tight. OK, it's not a space expedition, but the pressure is comparable.”

So they have implemented, instead of the traditional management structure, a decentralized management akin to that of Nasa’s, where there were a range of Apollo teams all working on different aspects of the project in a different facilities.

“In a system where you follow a protocol where a challenge emerges and they escalate it to their team leader, that leader consults a manager somewhere else, it is relayed back, it’s super slow,” says Nick Chester. “Therefore we enable staff to handle things directly. Moving away from hierarchical consent for all decisions is far more efficient and faster.”

Upcoming Challenges

The success of this flexible approach will be proven in the heat of competition in 2026 and there is a significant degree riding on this for F1, too. Cadillac have recruited as their reserve driver the young American Colton Herta