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Approximately a full year previously at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were ultimately awarded the go-ahead as Formula One’s newest entry for 2026. Constructing the team from the ground up has required a frenetic work rate that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo program. As Formula One converges on Vegas this race weekend, the team are aware the deadline is approaching.

The Tight Timeline to Melbourne

At the season finale of the championship to be staged in the United States, with just over three months to go before they make their debut for the maiden outing in Australia at the first race of 2026, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a never-ending task, they are conscious there will never be enough hours in the day.

The technical director, Nick Chester, came aboard the newly formed team in March 2023 not long after it was established, when the squad were without even an approved entry. He has been at its center ever since and gets a wry smile when considering the experience.

“There might be a brief moment looking back at what you have accomplished and think: ‘Incredible, how impressive what we’ve done in less than three years,’” Chester states. “But then the very next instant you realize: ‘Yeah, we’ve still got a great deal to do.’”

A Unique Task

The CTO achieved victories at the Renault team in Alonso's championship-winning campaigns of 2005/2006 and was in command of technical development at the then-new Mercedes Formula E team, but no previous experience has been quite like the mission of launching the all-American Cadillac marque, a works entry supported by the owner, GM, into Formula One.

“Establishing an F1 team from scratch, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he observes. “It is like nothing else. In an established team you don’t get the chance to change organizational mindset.”

With every day that passes thoughts are sharper on the looming critical moment in the Australian GP and expectations are being managed.

“One must presume that any incoming team coming in is likely to start at the back but just making it to the starting line will be an achievement in itself,” Lowdon stated recently and while Nick Chester shared this view he felt the squad had a reputation to build as well.

“Our primary goal we aim to demonstrate is that we should be there,” he says. “So that we turn up and we perform competently. We seek to prove that we’re a proper team doing the proper actions on the circuit. When we’ve shown that we’re really credible, then we aim to demonstrate progression after that.”

Racing Talent and Hiring Drive

In the summer they contracted Sergio Perez and Valtteri as their drivers for 2026, a tandem distinguished for their priceless expertise in performing at the sharp end in two top-tier teams, the Red Bull team and Mercedes, and the Finnish driver reflected the sentiment of determined optimism.

“Of course, we’re realistic,” he said. “We face a mountain of work to do, and we expect almost certainly a tough opening, because it is F1. But our goal isn't to stay at the back. I believe with this setup, with this group, these people, there’s no reason why we won't be able to advance swiftly to a competitive level and enjoy some success.”

To that end hiring has been in full swing, with employees now reaching in excess of 400 and intended to reach the target of six hundred quickly. Complementing their current base at the UK base, the squad are in the phase of finishing an main base at Fishers in the Indianapolis area and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, where they are developing the plant to manufacture the 2029 engine, set for 2029 – until then they will use Ferrari power units – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a intricate structure, different from the trend in Formula One for increased consolidation, and has prompted the new cultural approach to which Chester referred.

NASA Blueprint

“It's closely based on the NASA moon mission,” said the team principal just before the Silverstone race in the summer. “We have a clear-eyed view, we recognize how challenging it is. The schedules, are incredibly tight. Well, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it feels like it sometimes.”

So they have embraced, as opposed to the usual hierarchical system, a non-hierarchical approach akin to that of the space agency's, where there were a range of specialist groups all tackling various components of the project at a variety of locations.

“In a system where you follow a protocol where someone has a problem and they raise it up to their team leader, that manager talks to a supervisor at a different location, it travels back down, it becomes inefficient,” says Nick Chester. “Therefore we enable staff to really get on with it. Eliminating management approval for each action is so much cleaner and faster.”

What Lies Ahead

The efficacy of this nimble approach will be tested in the heat of competition next season and there is a significant degree at stake for F1, too. Cadillac have taken on as their development driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta