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A little more than one year ago at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally awarded the green light as Formula One’s newest entrant for 2026. Constructing the team from nothing has involved a intense work rate that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the NASA lunar mission. As Formula One converges on Las Vegas this weekend, Cadillac know the clock is ticking.

The Tight Timeline to Melbourne

At the final race of the season to be hosted in the US, with approximately 100 days to go before they make their debut for the inaugural time in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a never-ending task, they are cognizant there will never be enough hours in the day.

The CTO, Nick Chester, joined the embryonic operation in the spring of 2023 shortly after it was created, when the organization were without even an approved entry. He has been at its heart since then and enjoys a wry smile when reflecting on the experience.

“You might get a brief moment reflecting at what the team has achieved and think: ‘Incredible, isn’t this fantastic what we’ve done in under three years,’” Chester states. “Then the very next instant you consider: ‘Yes, we’ve still got a significant amount to do.’”

A One-of-a-Kind Opportunity

Chester enjoyed success at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s title-winning years of 2005/2006 and was in command of technical direction at the then-new Mercedes Formula E team, but no other project has been quite like the challenge of introducing the quintessentially American Cadillac brand, a factory team backed by the owner, General Motors, into Formula One.

“Establishing an Formula One team from scratch, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he says. “It is like nothing else. In an established team you won't have the possibility to transform organizational mindset.”

With each passing day that passes minds are increasingly concentrated on the looming decisive point in Melbourne and goals are being set realistically.

“You have to assume that any new team joining the grid is probably going to finish last but just making it to the starting line will be an feat in itself,” Lowdon stated earlier this year and while Chester shared this view he thought the organization had a statement to make as well.

“Our primary goal we aim to demonstrate is that we belong on the grid,” he says. “So that we show up and we operate well. We aim to demonstrate that this is a professional operation executing the right things on the race track. Once we have demonstrated that we’re really credible, then we want to show forward movement after that.”

Racing Talent and Recruitment Effort

In August they contracted Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a tandem distinguished for their vast knowledge in competing at the front in two championship-winning squads, the Red Bull team and Mercedes-AMG, and Bottas reflected the mood of determined optimism.

“Of course, we have a realistic outlook,” Bottas stated. “There’s going to be a massive task to do, and it’s going to be almost certainly a tough opening, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we’re not there to remain at the rear. In my view given this organization, with this group, this staff, there’s no reason why we can't manage to progress rapidly to the front and taste victory.”

To realize that ambition recruitment has been in full swing, with employees now reaching more than 400 and scheduled to hit the target of 600 members swiftly. In addition to their current base at Silverstone, the team are in the phase of building an HQ at Fishers in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are developing the center to build the 2029 engine, set for 2029 – in the meantime they will run power from Ferrari – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a sophisticated structure, different from the direction in the sport for more centralization, and has led to the new cultural approach to which the CTO referred.

Space Mission Model

“It's closely based on the Apollo project,” remarked Lowdon just before the British Grand Prix in mid-season. “We are pragmatic, we understand how tough it is. The deadlines, are incredibly tight. Alright, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but the pressure is comparable.”

So they have embraced, rather than the traditional management structure, a flat management structure akin to that of the space agency's, where there were a range of specialist groups all focusing on distinct elements of the project across a variety of locations.

“When you must follow a procedure where an issue arises and they raise it up to their team leader, that leader consults a manager somewhere else, it travels back down, it becomes inefficient,” explains the CTO. “We give authority to people to handle things directly. Moving away from hierarchical consent for each action is far more efficient and quicker.”

What Lies Ahead

The efficacy of this nimble approach will be proven in the pressure of racing in 2026 and there is a considerable amount on the line for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have taken on as their reserve driver the emerging American Colton Herta