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A little more than a full year ago at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally awarded the go-ahead as the world of Formula One's newest entrant for the 2026 season. Building the organization from nothing has required a hectic pace of work that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo program. As Formula One converges on the Vegas strip this race weekend, Cadillac understand the deadline is approaching.

The Race Against Time to Australia

At the season finale of the championship to be hosted in the America, with around three months to go before they hit the circuit for the inaugural time in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a never-ending challenge, they are conscious there will not be enough hours in the day.

The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, became part of the embryonic team in early 2023 soon after it was created, when the squad were without even an official entry. He has been at its center since then and has a wry smile when reflecting on the journey.

“You can have five minutes thinking back at what you’ve done and think: ‘Amazing, how impressive what the team has created in a short three-year period,’” he notes. “Then the following moment you think: ‘Yes, we’ve still got a significant amount to do.’”

A One-of-a-Kind Opportunity

Nick Chester enjoyed success at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s victorious seasons of 2005/2006 and was in charge of technical direction at the then-new Mercedes electric racing team, but no other project has truly matched the mission of introducing the quintessentially American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry backed by the parent company, General Motors, into Formula One.

“Establishing an grand prix team from the ground up, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he observes. “It is like nothing else. In an existing team you won't have the opportunity to change team culture.”

With each passing day that passes thoughts are sharper on the impending moment of truth in the Australian GP and expectations are being managed.

“You have to assume that any new team joining the grid is probably going to finish last but simply getting on to the grid will be an feat in itself,” Graeme Lowdon noted this year and while Chester agreed with this sentiment he felt the organization had a statement to make as well.

“The initial objective we aim to demonstrate is that we deserve to be there,” he emphasizes. “So we show up and we function efficiently. We seek to prove that we are a serious contender performing the right things on the circuit. After we’ve shown that we’re really credible, then we want to show forward movement after that.”

Driver Lineup and Team Building Effort

In August they contracted Sergio Pérez and Valtteri as their drivers for 2026, a duo distinguished for their priceless expertise in performing at the sharp end in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes, and Valtteri Bottas reflected the sentiment of fighting spirit.

“Certainly, we are pragmatic,” Bottas stated. “There’s going to be a mountain of work to do, and it’s going to be probably a difficult start, because this is Formula One. But we aren't joining to finish last. I believe with this structure, with this team, this staff, there’s no reason why we won't be able to progress rapidly to a competitive level and achieve good results.”

To achieve that goal staff acquisition has been in overdrive, with employees now reaching over 400 and scheduled to hit the goal of 600 members swiftly. Complementing their present headquarters at the UK base, the squad are in the process of completing an headquarters at Fishers, Indiana in Indy and there is the General Motors facility in North Carolina, where they are building the plant to build the 2029 engine, planned for 2029 – for now they will run Ferrari engines – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a complex organization, contrary to the direction in the sport for greater centralisation, and has prompted the innovative team culture to which Chester referred.

Space Mission Blueprint

“It's closely based on the Apollo project,” remarked Graeme Lowdon just before the British GP in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we recognize how challenging it is. The timelines, they’re super, super, super short. Alright, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it can seem that way.”

So they have embraced, instead of the conventional chain of command, a non-hierarchical approach akin to that of Nasa’s, where there were a assortment of Apollo teams all tackling various components of the mission at a multiple sites.

“If you have to go through a protocol where a challenge emerges and they raise it up to their manager, that leader talks to a manager at a different location, it goes back down the chain, it becomes inefficient,” notes Chester. “Therefore we enable staff to really get on with it. Avoiding hierarchical consent for all decisions is far more efficient and quicker.”

Upcoming Challenges

The success of this nimble approach will be tested in the intensity of Grand Prix when the season begins and there is no little amount at stake for F1, too. The Cadillac team have taken on as their development driver the young Californian Colton Herta