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A little more than one year previously at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally granted the official approval as the world of Formula One's newest entry for the 2026 season. Establishing the team from scratch has required a hectic pace of work that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo program. As F1 converges on Las Vegas this weekend, the team know the deadline is approaching.

The Race Against Time to Melbourne

At the last event of the campaign to be held in the US, with just over three months to go before they hit the circuit for the inaugural time in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a monumental endeavor, they are aware there will not be sufficient time.

The CTO, Nick Chester, became part of the embryonic team in the spring of 2023 not long after it was formed, when the team were without even an approved entry. He has been at its heart from that point and enjoys a amused expression when considering the ride.

“You can have a brief moment reflecting at what you’ve done and think: ‘Wow, what an achievement what we’ve done in less than three years,’” Chester states. “And then the very next instant you consider: ‘Yeah, we’ve still got a great deal to do.’”

A Unique Task

Chester enjoyed success at the Renault team in Alonso's victorious seasons of the mid-2000s and was in charge of engineering strategy at the then-new Mercedes electric racing team, but nothing has been quite like the task of bringing the iconic American Cadillac marque, a factory team sponsored by the owner, General Motors, into the pinnacle of motorsport.

“Creating an Formula One team from nothing, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he observes. “It's unparalleled. In an established team you don’t get the opportunity to change cultural approach.”

With each passing day that goes by focus are sharper on the approaching decisive point in the Australian GP and targets are being managed.

“One must presume that any new team joining the grid is probably going to finish last but merely participating will be an achievement in itself,” Lowdon commented this year and while Chester echoed this he felt the squad had a point to prove as well.

“The initial objective we intend to prove is that we deserve to be there,” he emphasizes. “In order that we arrive and we operate well. We aim to demonstrate that we’re a proper team doing the correct procedures on the race track. When we prove that we are a legitimate team, then we want to show forward movement subsequently.”

Pilot Selection and Hiring Push

In August they signed Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas as their pilots for 2026, a tandem notable for their vast knowledge in competing at the leading positions in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull Racing and the Mercedes team, and the Finnish driver expressed the attitude of determined optimism.

“Of course, we’re realistic,” he said. “We have a mountain of work to do, and we expect almost certainly a challenging beginning, because it is F1. But we aren't joining to finish last. I am confident with this structure, with these individuals, this staff, there’s no reason why we won't be able to progress rapidly up to the pace and taste victory.”

To realize that ambition hiring has been in full swing, with employees now reaching more than 400 and planned to hit the target of six hundred swiftly. In addition to their existing facility at Silverstone, the team are in the process of finishing an main base at Fishers in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM plant in North Carolina, where they are constructing the center to manufacture the 2029 engine, set for 2029 – in the meantime they will run power from Ferrari – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne. It is a intricate structure, at odds with the direction in F1 for increased consolidation, and has inspired the new cultural approach to which the CTO referred.

NASA Model

“We've drawn heavily from the NASA moon mission,” remarked the team principal ahead of the Silverstone race in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we know how difficult it is. The timelines, are incredibly tight. Alright, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but the pressure is comparable.”

So they have implemented, as opposed to the traditional management structure, a flat management structure similar to that of NASA's, where there were a range of specialist groups all working on distinct elements of the project at a multiple sites.

“If you have to go through a process where an issue arises and they escalate it to their team leader, that leader communicates with a supervisor somewhere else, it travels back down, it becomes inefficient,” says the CTO. “We give authority to people to take charge. Moving away from management approval for each action is so much cleaner and quicker.”

Upcoming Challenges

The success of this nimble methodology will be proven in the intensity of Grand Prix in 2026 and there is no little amount at stake for Formula One, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their development driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta