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A little more than twelve months ago at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were ultimately awarded the go-ahead as Formula One’s latest entrant for 2026. Establishing the team from the ground up has required a hectic operating tempo that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo program. As Formula One descends on Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac are aware the clock is ticking.

The Countdown to Melbourne

At the final race of the campaign to be hosted in the United States, with approximately 100 days to go before they hit the circuit for the inaugural time in Australia at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a never-ending endeavor, they are cognizant there will never be adequate time.

The CTO, Nick Chester, came aboard the newly formed team in early 2023 shortly after it was created, when the organization were without even an official entry. He has been at its center ever since and has a knowing grin when thinking about the journey.

“You can have five minutes looking back at what you’ve done and say: ‘Amazing, how impressive what we have built in less than three years,’” he says. “Then the next minute you think: ‘Yes, we still have a significant amount to do.’”

A One-of-a-Kind Opportunity

Nick Chester had success at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s victorious years of 2005/2006 and was in charge of technical direction at the then-new Mercedes electric racing team, but nothing has truly matched the challenge of introducing the quintessentially American Cadillac brand, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the parent company, General Motors Corporation, into Formula One.

“Establishing an grand prix team from scratch, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he says. “It's unparalleled. In an existing team you won't have the possibility to transform organizational mindset.”

With every day that passes minds are more focused on the approaching critical moment in Melbourne and targets are being handled.

“You have to assume that a brand-new squad coming in is probably going to finish last but simply getting on to the grid will be an achievement in itself,” Graeme Lowdon noted recently and while Chester shared this view he felt the team had a reputation to build as well.

“Our primary goal we want to show is that we should be there,” Chester explains. “In order that we turn up and we function efficiently. We seek to prove that we are a serious contender performing the right things on the race track. After we have demonstrated that we’re really credible, then we will focus on improvement from there on.”

Racing Talent and Hiring Drive

In August they contracted Sergio Pérez and Bottas as their racers for 2026, a tandem remarkable for their vast knowledge in competing at the leading positions in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes-AMG, and Valtteri Bottas expressed the attitude of fighting spirit.

“Certainly, we’re realistic,” he commented. “We face a huge amount of work to do, and it will likely be almost certainly a tough opening, because this is Formula One. But we’re not there to finish last. I believe with this setup, with this team, these people, there’s no reason why we can't manage to advance swiftly to a competitive level and taste victory.”

To achieve that goal staff acquisition has been in full swing, with personnel now reaching over 400 and intended to attain the objective of 600 quickly. In addition to their current base at Silverstone, the organization are in the process of building an headquarters at Fishers, Indiana in Indianapolis and there is the GM works in North Carolina, where they are constructing the facility to produce the power unit, set for 2029 – for now they will run Ferrari power units – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a sophisticated structure, contrary to the direction in F1 for increased consolidation, and has led to the fresh organizational mindset to which the CTO referred to.

Space Mission Model

“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo project,” said Lowdon ahead of the British GP in the summer. “We have a clear-eyed view, we know how tough it is. The schedules, are incredibly tight. Well, it's not a space expedition, but it can seem that way.”

So they have implemented, rather than the conventional chain of command, a non-hierarchical approach similar to that of Nasa’s, where there were a range of Apollo teams all working on different aspects of the project at a different facilities.

“If you have to go through a process where someone has a problem and they escalate it to their team leader, that leader communicates with a leader in another department, it travels back down, it’s super slow,” notes the CTO. “So we empower people to take charge. Avoiding managerial sign-off for all decisions is much smoother and quicker.”

The Future

The efficacy of this flexible strategy will be tested in the heat of competition when the season begins and there is a significant degree riding on this for Formula One, too. Cadillac have taken on as their test driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta