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Just over one year ago at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were ultimately awarded the green light as the world of Formula One's latest entry for the 2026 season. Establishing the team from nothing has involved a frenetic pace of work that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo program. As Formula One descends on Las Vegas this weekend, the team know the deadline is approaching.

The Race Against Time to Australia

At the last event of the season to be held in the US, with around 100 days to go before they make their debut for the inaugural time in Melbourne at the 2026 opener, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a never-ending challenge, they are conscious there will not be enough hours in the day.

The CTO, Nick Chester, came aboard the newly formed team in the spring of 2023 shortly after it was formed, when the team were without even an official entry. He has been at its heart ever since and gets a amused expression when reflecting on the journey.

“There might be a short period reflecting at what you have accomplished and say: ‘Amazing, what an achievement what the team has created in under three years,’” Chester states. “Then the next minute you realize: ‘Well, we still have a great deal to do.’”

An Unprecedented Task

Nick Chester had success at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s victorious years of 2005/2006 and was in control of technical development at the new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but nothing has quite compared with the challenge of introducing the quintessentially American Cadillac marque, a factory team sponsored by the parent company, General Motors Corporation, into F1.

“Creating an grand prix team from nothing, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” Chester remarks. “It's unparalleled. In an well-set team you don’t get the opportunity to transform cultural approach.”

With every day that elapses focus are sharper on the looming decisive point in Melbourne and expectations are being handled.

“One must presume that any new team coming in is going to be last but just making it to the starting line will be an achievement in itself,” Graeme Lowdon commented recently and while the CTO agreed with this sentiment he thought the team had a point to prove as well.

“The initial objective we intend to prove is that we belong on the grid,” Chester explains. “So we turn up and we operate well. We want to show that we are a serious contender executing the right things on the track. After we have demonstrated that we are a legitimate team, then we will focus on progression after that.”

Pilot Selection and Team Building Effort

In August they signed Sergio Perez and Valtteri as their pilots for 2026, a pair remarkable for their priceless expertise in performing at the sharp end in two top-tier teams, Red Bull and Mercedes-AMG, and the Finnish driver expressed the mood of fighting spirit.

“Certainly, we’re realistic,” he commented. “There’s going to be a huge amount of work to do, and it’s going to be almost certainly a difficult start, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we’re not there to stay at the back. I believe with this setup, with this group, this staff, there’s no reason why we won't be able to get relatively quickly to a competitive level and enjoy some success.”

To achieve that goal hiring has been in top gear, with employees now up to more than 400 and scheduled to reach the goal of 600 rapidly. Complementing their current base at Silverstone, the team are in the phase of building an main base at Fishers in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM works in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are developing the facility to build the new engine, set for 2029 – for now they will operate with Ferrari engines – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a intricate organisation, different from the direction in the sport for more centralization, and has prompted the fresh organizational mindset to which the CTO referred.

NASA Inspiration

“It's closely based on the Apollo program,” said the team principal ahead of the Silverstone race in mid-season. “We’re realistic, we recognize how difficult it is. The schedules, are incredibly tight. OK, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but the pressure is comparable.”

So they have implemented, rather than the conventional chain of command, a non-hierarchical approach similar to that of the space agency's, where there were a assortment of project teams all focusing on distinct elements of the mission in a variety of locations.

“When you must follow a process where a challenge emerges and they report it to their manager, that leader consults a manager at a different location, it goes back down the chain, the process is very slow,” notes the CTO. “So we empower team members to take charge. Avoiding management approval for all decisions is much smoother and faster.”

The Future

The effectiveness of this flexible methodology will be evaluated in the intensity of Grand Prix in 2026 and there is a considerable amount riding on this for Formula One, too. Cadillac have recruited as their reserve driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta