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Approximately twelve months ago at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally given the official approval as Formula One’s latest participant for the 2026 season. Building the squad from scratch has involved a intense work rate that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo moon landing. As F1 descends on Las Vegas this race weekend, the team know the deadline is approaching.

The Tight Timeline to Australia

At the season finale of the season to be staged in the America, with approximately a hundred days to go before they hit the circuit for the first time in Australia at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a sisyphean endeavor, they are cognizant there will never be sufficient time.

The CTO, Nick Chester, came aboard the embryonic team in the spring of 2023 shortly after it was established, when the squad were without even an official entry. He has been at its heart from that point and gets a knowing grin when considering the journey.

“You can have a short period thinking back at what you have accomplished and think: ‘Incredible, what an achievement what we’ve done in a short three-year period,’” Chester states. “But then the following moment you consider: ‘Yes, we still have a great deal to do.’”

An Unprecedented Opportunity

Chester enjoyed success at Renault in Alonso's championship-winning years of 2005 and 2006 and was in control of engineering strategy at the new Mercedes electric racing team, but no other project has truly matched the challenge of introducing the all-American Cadillac marque, a manufacturer-backed entry sponsored by the parent company, General Motors, into F1.

“Building an Formula One team from scratch, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he observes. “It is like nothing else. In an well-set team you won't have the opportunity to transform organizational mindset.”

With each passing day that elapses focus are sharper on the impending moment of truth in Melbourne and goals are being handled.

“One must presume that a brand-new squad joining the grid is going to be last but merely participating will be an accomplishment in itself,” Graeme Lowdon commented this year and while Chester shared this view he felt the team had a reputation to build as well.

“Our primary goal we want to show is that we deserve to be there,” Chester explains. “So we show up and we perform competently. We seek to prove that we are a serious contender doing the proper actions on the race track. When we have demonstrated that our credentials are solid, then we aim to demonstrate progression from there on.”

Pilot Selection and Team Building Drive

In late summer they signed Sergio Pérez and Valtteri as their drivers for 2026, a pair remarkable for their priceless expertise in operating at the front in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull and the Mercedes team, and Bottas reflected the attitude of fighting spirit.

“Naturally, we have a realistic outlook,” he said. “We have a huge amount of work to do, and it will likely be probably a difficult start, because it's the top level of motorsport. But our goal isn't to remain at the rear. I believe with this structure, with this team, this staff, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to progress rapidly to the front and enjoy some success.”

To realize that ambition recruitment has been in full swing, with personnel now up to over 400 and planned to reach the objective of 600 members rapidly. Complementing their present headquarters at the Silverstone circuit, the team are in the phase of finishing an main base at Fishers, Indiana in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are developing the plant to build the power unit, set for the 2029 season – until then they will run Ferrari power units – and the aerodynamic facility in Germany. It is a sophisticated organization, at odds with the movement in Formula One for greater centralisation, and has led to the innovative team culture to which Nick Chester alluded.

Space Mission Blueprint

“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo project,” remarked Lowdon shortly before the Silverstone race in mid-season. “We are pragmatic, we recognize 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 embraced, instead of the usual hierarchical system, a flat management structure similar to that of Nasa’s, where there were a variety of specialist groups all working on various components of the mission in a different facilities.

“When you must follow a process where someone has a problem and they report it to their team leader, that supervisor talks to a manager at a different location, it is relayed back, it becomes inefficient,” explains Nick Chester. “So we empower staff to handle things directly. Eliminating hierarchical consent for everything is far more efficient and quicker.”

The Future

The success of this flexible approach will be tested in the heat of competition when the season begins and there is a significant degree at stake for the sport, too. Cadillac have signed as their reserve driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta