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Approximately twelve months ago at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were at last awarded the official approval as the world of Formula One's latest entry for 2026. Establishing the squad from the ground up has entailed a frenetic pace of work that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo moon landing. As F1 converges on Las Vegas this weekend, Cadillac are aware time is getting tight.

The Race Against Time to Australia

At the last event of the season to be held in the America, with approximately three months to go before they hit the circuit for the inaugural time in Melbourne 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 cognizant there will never be adequate time.

The CTO, Nick Chester, came aboard the embryonic team in early 2023 soon after it was formed, when the team were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its core ever since and gets a wry smile when reflecting on the journey.

“There might be a short period thinking back at what you have accomplished and go: ‘Amazing, isn’t this fantastic what we’ve done in less than three years,’” he says. “And then the very next instant you think: ‘Well, there is still a great deal to do.’”

An Unprecedented Opportunity

Chester had success at Renault in the driver Fernando Alonso's title-winning seasons of 2005/2006 and was in control of engineering strategy at the recently formed Mercedes Formula E team, but nothing has quite compared with the mission of launching the quintessentially American Cadillac brand, a factory team sponsored by the parent company, General Motors, into F1.

“Creating an F1 team from scratch, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he says. “It is like nothing else. In an well-set team you won't have the opportunity to alter organizational mindset.”

With each day that passes minds are sharper on the looming moment of truth in the Australian GP and targets are being handled.

“You have to assume that any new team joining the grid is likely to start at the back but merely participating will be an feat in itself,” Graeme Lowdon commented this year and while the CTO shared this view he felt the team had a reputation to build as well.

“The first thing we intend to prove is that we belong on the grid,” he emphasizes. “In order that we arrive and we function efficiently. We want to show that we are a serious contender performing the right things on the circuit. After we have demonstrated that we’re really credible, then we will focus on improvement subsequently.”

Pilot Selection and Recruitment Effort

In the summer they recruited Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their pilots for 2026, a pair distinguished for their invaluable experience in operating at the front in two of the sport’s biggest teams, the Red Bull team and Mercedes-AMG, and the Finnish driver echoed the mood of fighting spirit.

“Naturally, we have a realistic outlook,” he commented. “We face a mountain of work to do, and it will likely be almost certainly a challenging beginning, because this is Formula One. But our goal isn't to stay at the back. I believe with this structure, with this group, these personnel, it's entirely possible we can't manage to advance swiftly to a competitive level and taste victory.”

To achieve that goal staff acquisition has been in overdrive, with employees now at in excess of 400 and intended to attain the goal of 600 members swiftly. Alongside their existing facility at Silverstone, the team are in the phase of finishing an headquarters at Fishers, Indiana in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are building the center to manufacture the power unit, set for 2029 – in the meantime they will use Ferrari engines – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a sophisticated organisation, contrary to the movement in the sport for increased consolidation, and has led to the innovative team culture to which Nick Chester referred.

Space Mission Model

“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo program,” remarked Lowdon just before the British Grand Prix in the summer. “We have a clear-eyed view, we recognize how tough it is. The schedules, they’re super, super, super short. Alright, it's not a space expedition, but it feels like it sometimes.”

So they have embraced, as opposed to the traditional management structure, a non-hierarchical approach akin to that of the space agency's, where there were a range of Apollo teams all working on various components of the program in a different facilities.

“If you have to go through a process where an issue arises and they report it to their team leader, that leader communicates with a leader somewhere else, it travels back down, the process is very slow,” explains the CTO. “So we empower team members to take charge. Eliminating managerial sign-off for each action is much smoother and more rapid.”

Upcoming Challenges

The success of this nimble methodology will be evaluated in the pressure of racing when the season begins and there is a considerable amount riding on this for Formula One, too. Cadillac have recruited as their test driver the young Californian Colton Herta