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A little more than twelve months in the past at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally granted the green light as Formula One’s newest entrant for the 2026 season. Constructing the organization from scratch has required a hectic work rate that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo moon landing. As the sport converges on Vegas this weekend, the team are aware the clock is ticking.

The Countdown to Melbourne

At the season finale of the season to be staged in the United States, with around a hundred days to go before they take to the track for the first time in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a monumental task, they are cognizant there will not be enough hours in the day.

The CTO, Nick Chester, came aboard the newly formed project in March 2023 not long after it was formed, when the squad were without even an approved entry. He has been at its center since then and gets a amused expression when considering the ride.

“You can have a brief moment looking back at what you’ve done and think: ‘Wow, how impressive what the team has created in less than three years,’” he notes. “Then the very next instant you consider: ‘Yeah, there is still a significant amount to do.’”

A One-of-a-Kind Challenge

The CTO enjoyed success at Renault in the driver Fernando Alonso's title-winning campaigns of 2005/2006 and was in command of technical development at the new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but nothing has truly matched the mission of bringing the all-American Cadillac name, a works entry supported by the corporate entity, GM, into F1.

“Creating an grand prix team from nothing, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he observes. “It's unparalleled. In an established team you won't have the possibility to change team culture.”

With each passing day that goes by focus are more focused on the looming moment of truth in Australia and targets are being handled.

“You have to assume that any incoming team joining the grid is likely to start at the back but simply getting on to the grid will be an accomplishment in itself,” the team principal stated recently and while Nick Chester echoed this he felt the organization had a point to prove as well.

“The first thing we intend to prove is that we deserve to be there,” Chester explains. “In order that we arrive and we function efficiently. We seek to prove that we are a serious contender doing the right things on the race track. When we prove that we are a legitimate team, then we aim to demonstrate progression after that.”

Driver Lineup and Recruitment Effort

In late summer they contracted Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their pilots for the 2026 season, a tandem notable for their invaluable experience in performing at the front in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes-AMG, and Valtteri Bottas reflected the attitude of fighting spirit.

“Of course, we’re realistic,” Bottas stated. “We have a massive task to do, and it’s going to be almost certainly a difficult start, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we aren't joining to stay at the back. I believe with this structure, with this team, this staff, there’s no reason why we can't manage to progress rapidly to the front and taste victory.”

To realize that ambition hiring has been in full swing, with personnel now reaching over 400 and intended to reach the target of 600 swiftly. In addition to their current base at the Silverstone circuit, the team are in the phase of building an headquarters at Fishers in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, where they are constructing the plant to build the power unit, scheduled for 2029 – in the meantime they will use power from Ferrari – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Germany. It is a complex organisation, at odds with the trend in Formula One for greater centralisation, and has led to the new cultural approach to which Nick Chester referred to.

Apollo Model

“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo program,” said Graeme Lowdon ahead of the British GP in the summer. “We have a clear-eyed view, we understand how difficult it is. The timelines, are extremely compressed. OK, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it feels like it sometimes.”

So they have embraced, instead of the conventional chain of command, a non-hierarchical approach akin to that of Nasa’s, where there were a range of specialist groups all working on various components of the mission across a different facilities.

“If you have to go through a protocol where someone has a problem and they escalate it to their supervisor, that manager consults a manager in another department, it is relayed back, the process is very slow,” explains Nick Chester. “We give authority to team members to really get on with it. Eliminating management approval for everything is so much cleaner and faster.”

Upcoming Challenges

The effectiveness of this agile methodology will be proven in the pressure of racing next season and there is a considerable amount riding on this for Formula One, too. Cadillac have signed as their reserve driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta