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Approximately twelve months ago at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally awarded the go-ahead as Formula One’s latest entrant for the 2026 season. Establishing the squad from scratch has involved a hectic pace of work that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo program. As Formula One converges on Vegas this weekend, the team understand the clock is ticking.

The Tight Timeline to Australia

At the season finale of the campaign to be hosted in the US, with approximately a hundred days to go before they hit the circuit for the inaugural time in Australia at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a never-ending challenge, they are conscious there will not be sufficient time.

The technical director, Nick Chester, joined the newly formed operation in early 2023 not long after it was created, when the organization were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its heart since then and has a knowing grin when thinking about the journey.

“There might be a short period thinking back at what the team has achieved and go: ‘Incredible, how impressive what we’ve done in under three years,’” he notes. “But then the next minute you realize: ‘Well, we’ve still got quite a lot to do.’”

A One-of-a-Kind Opportunity

The CTO enjoyed success at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s victorious campaigns of 2005 and 2006 and was in command of technical direction at the recently formed Mercedes Formula E team, but nothing has truly matched the mission of bringing the iconic American Cadillac marque, a works entry backed by the owner, GM, into F1.

“Creating an grand prix team from scratch, how often do you get the opportunity 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 every day that passes focus are increasingly concentrated on the looming decisive point in the Australian GP and expectations are being set realistically.

“It's reasonable to expect that any incoming team entering the sport is likely to start at the back but merely participating will be an achievement in itself,” Graeme Lowdon commented this year and while Nick Chester echoed this he thought the squad had a point to prove as well.

“Our primary goal we intend to prove is that we should be there,” he says. “In order that we show up and we function efficiently. We seek to prove that we’re a proper team executing the correct procedures on the circuit. After we have demonstrated that we are a legitimate team, then we want to show progression from there on.”

Pilot Selection and Hiring Effort

In late summer they recruited Sergio Pérez and Valtteri as their drivers for 2026, a tandem distinguished for their vast knowledge in competing at the front in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes, and Valtteri Bottas reflected the attitude of combative optimism.

“Naturally, we’re realistic,” he commented. “We have a huge amount of work to do, and it will likely be most likely a tough opening, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we’re not there to finish last. I believe given this organization, with this team, these personnel, there’s no reason why we won't be able to advance swiftly up to the pace and enjoy some success.”

To realize that ambition hiring has been in full swing, with personnel now up to in excess of 400 and scheduled to reach the goal of 600 members rapidly. In addition to their current base at Silverstone, the team are in the phase of finishing an main base at Fishers in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, where they are developing the center to produce the new engine, planned for the 2029 season – for now they will operate with power from Ferrari – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a intricate organisation, at odds with the movement in F1 for increased consolidation, and has prompted the new cultural approach to which Chester referred.

NASA Model

“It's closely based on the NASA moon mission,” stated the team principal just before the British GP in the summer. “We are pragmatic, we understand how difficult it is. The deadlines, are incredibly tight. Alright, it's not a space expedition, but it feels like it sometimes.”

So they have adopted, as opposed to the traditional management structure, a flat management structure akin to that of Nasa’s, where there were a assortment of Apollo teams all working on different aspects of the project in a different facilities.

“If you have to go through a process where an issue arises and they report it to their team leader, that leader talks to a manager somewhere else, it goes back down the chain, it becomes inefficient,” explains Chester. “So we empower team members to really get on with it. Eliminating management approval for all decisions is so much cleaner and quicker.”

The Future

The effectiveness of this flexible strategy will be evaluated in the pressure of racing next season and there is a significant degree riding on this for Formula One, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their test driver the young American Colton Herta