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Just over twelve months ago at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were ultimately granted the official approval as Formula One’s latest participant for the 2026 season. Constructing the team from scratch has required a intense pace of work that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo moon landing. As the sport descends on Las Vegas this weekend, the team know time is getting tight.

The Countdown to Australia

At the final race of the championship to be staged in the United States, with just over a hundred days to go before they make their debut for the maiden outing in Australia at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a monumental task, they are conscious there will not be sufficient time.

The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, came aboard the nascent project in March 2023 soon after it was formed, when the squad were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its heart ever since and has a wry smile when considering the experience.

“There might be a brief moment reflecting at what you’ve done and go: ‘Incredible, how impressive what we have built in less than three years,’” Chester states. “Then the very next instant you think: ‘Well, there is still quite a lot to do.’”

An Unprecedented Task

The CTO achieved victories at Renault in Alonso's championship-winning campaigns of 2005 and 2006 and was in control of technical direction at the then-new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but nothing has quite compared with the challenge of introducing the quintessentially American Cadillac marque, a works entry backed by the owner, General Motors Corporation, into the pinnacle of motorsport.

“Building an grand prix team from the ground up, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he says. “There's nothing comparable. In an existing team you rarely get the chance to transform cultural approach.”

With each passing day that passes focus are sharper on the approaching decisive point in Melbourne and expectations are being managed.

“It's reasonable to expect that a brand-new squad entering the sport is probably going to finish last but simply getting on to the grid will be an feat in itself,” Graeme Lowdon stated earlier this year and while Nick Chester agreed with this sentiment he believed the squad had a reputation to build as well.

“The initial objective we aim to demonstrate is that we deserve to be there,” he says. “In order that we turn up and we operate well. We aim to demonstrate that this is a professional operation doing the correct procedures on the race track. When we’ve shown that we are a legitimate team, then we want to show forward movement from there on.”

Pilot Selection and Recruitment Drive

In late summer they recruited Sergio Perez and Valtteri as their drivers for 2026, a pair remarkable for their invaluable experience in competing at the sharp end in two of the sport’s biggest teams, the Red Bull team and Mercedes, and Valtteri Bottas expressed the attitude of combative optimism.

“Of course, we have a realistic outlook,” he commented. “We face a mountain of work to do, and it will likely be most likely a tough opening, because it is F1. But we aren't joining to finish last. I am confident with this structure, with this group, this staff, there is every reason that we shouldn’t be able to progress rapidly to the front and achieve good results.”

To realize that ambition hiring has been in top gear, with personnel now up to in excess of 400 and intended to reach the objective of 600 rapidly. Alongside their existing facility at the Silverstone circuit, the organization are in the process of building an main base at Fishers, Indiana in Indy and there is the GM works in North Carolina, where they are constructing the facility to manufacture the 2029 engine, planned for the 2029 season – until then they will operate with power from Ferrari – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Germany. It is a sophisticated structure, different from the movement in the sport for increased consolidation, and has led to the innovative team culture to which Chester alluded.

Apollo Blueprint

“It's closely based on the Apollo program,” stated Graeme Lowdon just before the British Grand Prix in mid-season. “We have a clear-eyed view, we know how difficult it is. The schedules, are extremely compressed. Well, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but the pressure is comparable.”

So they have embraced, as opposed to the usual hierarchical system, a non-hierarchical approach similar to that of Nasa’s, where there were a range of project teams all tackling different aspects of the program at a different facilities.

“If you have to go through a process where someone has a problem and they report it to their team leader, that manager consults a supervisor at a different location, it goes back down the chain, it becomes inefficient,” explains Chester. “So we empower staff to really get on with it. Moving away from managerial sign-off for all decisions is much smoother and quicker.”

What Lies Ahead

The effectiveness of this flexible strategy will be proven in the heat of competition in 2026 and there is no little amount at stake for the sport, too. Cadillac have recruited as their reserve driver the young American Colton Herta