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A little more than a full year ago at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were at last awarded the go-ahead as the world of Formula One's newest participant for the 2026 season. Establishing the organization from the ground up has entailed a hectic work rate that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo program. As Formula One descends on Las Vegas this weekend, the team are aware time is getting tight.

The Race Against Time to Melbourne

At the last event of the season to be hosted in the America, with around three months 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 sisyphean challenge, they are conscious there will not be adequate time.

The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, came aboard the newly formed team in March 2023 not long after it was formed, when the organization were without even an official entry. He has been at its core ever since and has a knowing grin when reflecting on the journey.

“You can have a short period looking back at what the team has achieved and think: ‘Wow, how impressive what we have built in a short three-year period,’” he notes. “Then the following moment you realize: ‘Yeah, we still have a great deal to do.’”

A One-of-a-Kind Opportunity

Chester achieved victories at the Renault team in Alonso's championship-winning years of 2005 and 2006 and was in control of technical direction at the new Mercedes electric racing team, but nothing has truly matched the challenge of bringing the iconic American Cadillac brand, a factory team sponsored by the owner, GM, into F1.

“Establishing an grand prix team from scratch, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he observes. “It is like nothing else. In an existing team you rarely get the chance to change cultural approach.”

With each passing day that elapses minds are sharper on the impending decisive point in Australia and goals are being set realistically.

“You have to assume that any incoming team joining the grid is probably going to finish last but just making it to the starting line will be an achievement in itself,” the team principal noted earlier this year and while Nick Chester agreed with this sentiment he thought the organization had a point to prove as well.

“The first thing we intend to prove is that we should be there,” he says. “So we arrive and we operate well. We aim to demonstrate that we’re a proper team executing the proper actions on the track. Once we prove that our credentials are solid, then we want to show progression subsequently.”

Pilot Selection and Recruitment Drive

In late summer they signed Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas as their drivers for the 2026 season, a duo notable for their vast knowledge in operating at the sharp end in two top-tier teams, the Red Bull team and Mercedes, and Bottas expressed the sentiment of combative optimism.

“Certainly, we have a realistic outlook,” Bottas stated. “We have 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 aren't joining to remain at the rear. In my view given this organization, with this team, this staff, there is every reason that we shouldn’t be able to progress rapidly up to the pace and enjoy some success.”

To achieve that goal hiring has been in overdrive, with staff now at in excess of 400 and scheduled to reach the objective of 600 members quickly. Complementing their current base at Silverstone, the organization are in the process of finishing an headquarters at Fishers, Indiana in Indianapolis and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are building the facility to build the new engine, scheduled for 2029 – for now they will run power from Ferrari – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne. It is a complex organisation, contrary to the direction in the sport for more centralization, and has inspired the fresh organizational mindset to which Nick Chester referred to.

Apollo Model

“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo project,” said Lowdon ahead of the British GP in mid-season. “We are pragmatic, we understand how difficult it is. The schedules, are extremely compressed. Alright, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it can seem that way.”

So they have adopted, rather than the traditional management structure, a non-hierarchical approach similar to that of Nasa’s, where there were a range of Apollo teams all tackling distinct elements of the mission at a different facilities.

“In a system where you follow a process where a challenge emerges and they escalate it to their supervisor, that leader communicates with a supervisor in another department, it is relayed back, it becomes inefficient,” says Chester. “Therefore we enable people to handle things directly. Moving away from managerial sign-off for everything is so much cleaner and faster.”

What Lies Ahead

The efficacy of this nimble methodology will be proven in the pressure of racing when the season begins and there is a significant degree on the line for F1, too. Cadillac have signed as their development driver the emerging American Colton Herta