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A little more than one year ago at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were at last awarded the green light as F1's newest entry for the 2026 season. Establishing the team from the ground up has involved a frenetic pace of work that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the NASA lunar mission. As F1 converges on Las Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac are aware time is getting tight.

The Countdown to Australia

At the season finale of the championship to be hosted in the America, with approximately three months to go before they take to the track for the inaugural time in Australia at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a never-ending endeavor, they are cognizant there will never be sufficient time.

The CTO, Nick Chester, became part of the embryonic team in March 2023 soon after it was formed, when the organization were without even an official entry. He has been at its heart from that point and gets a knowing grin when reflecting on the journey.

“You might get five minutes reflecting at what you have accomplished and say: ‘Wow, isn’t this fantastic what we’ve done in less than three years,’” he says. “Then the very next instant you realize: ‘Well, there is still quite a lot to do.’”

An Unprecedented Task

Nick Chester enjoyed success at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s championship-winning seasons of the mid-2000s and was in command of technical direction at the then-new Mercedes Formula E team, but nothing has quite compared with the task of introducing the iconic American Cadillac brand, a works entry sponsored by the parent company, General Motors, into Formula One.

“Building an Formula One team from the ground up, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he observes. “It's unparalleled. In an existing team you don’t get the chance to alter team culture.”

With each day that passes minds are sharper on the impending critical moment in the Australian GP and targets are being handled.

“It's reasonable to expect that any new team joining the grid is going to be last but merely participating will be an achievement in itself,” the team principal stated earlier this year and while Chester echoed this he felt the squad had a reputation to build as well.

“The initial objective we aim to demonstrate is that we deserve to be there,” he emphasizes. “So that we arrive and we operate well. We seek to prove that we are a serious contender executing the right things on the circuit. When we have demonstrated that we’re really credible, then we aim to demonstrate progression after that.”

Driver Lineup and Team Building Drive

In the summer they signed Sergio Perez and Valtteri as their pilots for 2026, a tandem distinguished for their invaluable experience in performing at the leading positions in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull Racing and the Mercedes team, and Valtteri Bottas echoed the attitude of fighting spirit.

“Certainly, we’re realistic,” he commented. “We have a huge amount of work to do, and we expect almost certainly a tough opening, because this is Formula One. But we’re not there to remain at the rear. I am confident with this structure, with these individuals, these people, there’s no reason why we can't manage to advance swiftly up to the pace and enjoy some success.”

To that end staff acquisition has been in top gear, with personnel now at more than 400 and planned to reach the target of 600 members rapidly. Alongside their present headquarters at Silverstone, the organization are in the phase of building an headquarters at Fishers, Indiana in the Indianapolis area and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are building the facility to produce the new engine, planned for 2029 – until then they will run power from Ferrari – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a complex organization, contrary to the direction in F1 for more centralization, and has led to the fresh organizational mindset to which the CTO referred.

NASA Model

“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo project,” remarked the team principal shortly before the British GP in mid-season. “We are pragmatic, we recognize how difficult it is. The schedules, are incredibly tight. Alright, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it feels like it sometimes.”

So they have embraced, as opposed to the traditional management structure, a decentralized management similar to that of Nasa’s, where there were a range of Apollo teams all focusing on different aspects of the program across a different facilities.

“If you have to go through a process where an issue arises and they escalate it to their manager, that supervisor consults a manager at a different location, it is relayed back, it’s super slow,” explains Nick Chester. “So we empower staff to take charge. Eliminating management approval for everything is far more efficient and faster.”

What Lies Ahead

The efficacy of this nimble methodology will be evaluated in the pressure of racing when the season begins and there is a considerable amount riding on this for the sport, too. Cadillac have taken on as their reserve driver the young American Colton Herta