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Just over one year ago at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately awarded the official approval as F1's latest entry for the 2026 season. Constructing the squad from scratch has entailed a frenetic pace of work that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo program. As the sport converges on the Vegas strip this race weekend, the team understand the clock is ticking.

The Race Against Time to Australia

At the final race of the campaign to be held in the America, with around three months to go before they make their debut for the first time in Melbourne at the 2026 opener, the Cadillac F1 project have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a never-ending challenge, they are conscious there will not be enough hours in the day.

The CTO, Nick Chester, joined the embryonic operation in early 2023 shortly after it was formed, when the team were without even an official entry. He has been at its heart ever since and gets a knowing grin when considering the experience.

“You can have a brief moment reflecting at what the team has achieved and go: ‘Wow, what an achievement what we have built in a short three-year period,’” Chester states. “And then the very next instant you realize: ‘Yeah, there is still quite a lot to do.’”

A Unique Task

Nick Chester achieved victories at the Renault team in Alonso's victorious seasons of 2005/2006 and was in command of technical development at the then-new Mercedes electric racing team, but no previous experience has truly matched the mission of bringing the iconic American Cadillac name, a factory team supported by the parent company, General Motors, into the pinnacle of motorsport.

“Creating an grand prix team from scratch, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” Chester remarks. “It is like nothing else. In an existing team you won't have the chance to change cultural approach.”

With every day that goes by focus are increasingly concentrated on the approaching moment of truth in Australia and targets are being managed.

“One must presume that any new team coming in is going to be last but simply getting on to the grid will be an accomplishment in itself,” Lowdon stated recently and while Nick Chester echoed this he believed the team had a point to prove as well.

“Our primary goal we intend to prove is that we should be there,” Chester explains. “So that we arrive and we function efficiently. We want to show that we are a serious contender doing the right things on the race track. Once we prove that we’re really credible, then we want to show progression subsequently.”

Racing Talent and Hiring Effort

In late summer they signed Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their pilots for 2026, a duo notable for their priceless expertise in operating at the leading positions in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull and Mercedes, and the Finnish driver echoed the mood of combative optimism.

“Naturally, we are pragmatic,” he said. “We face a huge amount of work to do, and it will likely be probably a challenging beginning, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we aren't joining to remain at the rear. I am confident with this structure, with this team, this staff, there’s no reason why we won't be able to advance swiftly to the front and taste victory.”

To realize that ambition recruitment has been in overdrive, with personnel now reaching in excess of 400 and planned to hit the objective of six hundred swiftly. In addition to their current base at Silverstone, the team are in the phase of finishing an main base at the Fishers location in Indy and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are developing the plant to produce the new engine, set for 2029 – until then they will use Ferrari power units – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne. It is a sophisticated organization, at odds with the trend in the sport for increased consolidation, and has led to the new cultural approach to which Chester referred to.

Apollo Inspiration

“It's closely based on the Apollo project,” said Graeme Lowdon shortly before the Silverstone race in the summer. “We’re realistic, we recognize how challenging it is. The schedules, they’re super, super, super short. Alright, it's not a space expedition, but it can seem that way.”

So they have implemented, instead of the conventional chain of command, a flat management structure similar to that of Nasa’s, where there were a range of project teams all tackling distinct elements of the project at a different facilities.

“When you must follow a procedure where a challenge emerges and they raise it up to their supervisor, that manager talks to a manager in another department, it goes back down the chain, it becomes inefficient,” says Nick Chester. “So we empower team members to take charge. Eliminating management approval for each action is so much cleaner and faster.”

What Lies Ahead

The effectiveness of this flexible strategy will be evaluated in the pressure of racing in 2026 and there is a significant degree on the line for Formula One, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their reserve driver the young American Colton Herta