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Just over a full year in the past at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were at last granted the go-ahead as F1's most recent entrant for the 2026 season. Building the team from nothing has involved a frenetic pace of work that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the NASA lunar mission. As the sport arrives on the Vegas strip this race weekend, the team know the deadline is approaching.

The Countdown to Australia

At the final race of the campaign to be hosted in the America, with just over 100 days to go before they make their debut for the inaugural time in Australia at the first race of 2026, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a never-ending task, they are cognizant there will not be adequate time.

The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, joined the newly formed operation in March 2023 not long after it was formed, when the squad were without even an approved entry. He has been at its core ever since and enjoys a wry smile when thinking about the experience.

“There might be a short period looking back at what you have accomplished and say: ‘Wow, isn’t this fantastic what we’ve done in less than three years,’” he notes. “And then the next minute you realize: ‘Yeah, we’ve still got a significant amount to do.’”

A Unique Challenge

The CTO achieved victories at the Renault team in the driver Fernando Alonso's title-winning seasons of 2005/2006 and was in charge of technical direction at the new Mercedes Formula E team, but no previous experience has been quite like the challenge of bringing the quintessentially American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry sponsored by the parent company, General Motors Corporation, into the pinnacle of motorsport.

“Establishing an F1 team from the ground up, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” Chester remarks. “There's nothing comparable. In an well-set team you don’t get the chance to alter cultural approach.”

With each day that elapses thoughts are more focused on the impending moment of truth in Australia and goals are being handled.

“It's reasonable to expect that a brand-new squad joining the grid is probably going to finish last but simply getting on to the grid will be an achievement in itself,” Graeme Lowdon commented this year and while Chester agreed with this sentiment he believed the squad had a statement to make as well.

“The initial objective we aim to demonstrate is that we should be there,” he says. “So we arrive and we operate well. We seek to prove that we’re a proper team performing the correct procedures on the circuit. After we have demonstrated that our credentials are solid, then we aim to demonstrate improvement from there on.”

Driver Lineup and Hiring Push

In August they signed Sergio Perez and Bottas as their drivers for the 2026 season, a duo remarkable for their vast knowledge in performing at the leading positions in two top-tier teams, Red Bull and the Mercedes team, and Valtteri Bottas echoed the sentiment of determined optimism.

“Certainly, we have a realistic outlook,” he commented. “We have a massive task to do, and it will likely be most likely a difficult start, because this is Formula One. But we aren't joining to finish last. I am confident given this organization, with this group, this staff, it's entirely possible we can't manage to advance swiftly to a competitive level and achieve good results.”

To that end staff acquisition has been in full swing, with personnel now at over 400 and intended to hit the objective of 600 swiftly. Complementing their existing facility at Silverstone, the squad are in the midst of finishing an headquarters at Fishers in Indy and there is the GM works in North Carolina, where they are constructing the facility to produce the new engine, scheduled for 2029 – until then they will use power from Ferrari – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Germany. It is a complex structure, contrary to the trend in Formula One for more centralization, and has led to the innovative team culture to which Nick Chester referred to.

Apollo Model

“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo program,” said Lowdon ahead of the British Grand Prix in July. “We are pragmatic, we recognize how challenging it is. The timelines, are extremely compressed. Alright, it's not a space expedition, but it feels like it sometimes.”

So they have implemented, instead of the traditional management structure, a flat management structure akin to that of the space agency's, where there were a assortment of Apollo teams all working on various components of the mission across a multiple sites.

“In a system where you follow a protocol where a challenge emerges and they raise it up to their supervisor, that leader consults a supervisor at a different location, it goes back down the chain, it becomes inefficient,” says the CTO. “We give authority to people to handle things directly. Eliminating management approval for each action is so much cleaner and faster.”

What Lies Ahead

The efficacy of this nimble approach will be proven in the pressure of racing when the season begins and there is a considerable amount at stake for Formula One, too. Cadillac have recruited as their reserve driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta