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Approximately one year ago at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last granted the official approval as Formula One’s most recent participant for 2026. Establishing the team from the ground up has required a frenetic pace of work that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo moon landing. As Formula One descends on Vegas this weekend, the team know the clock is ticking.

The Countdown to Australia

At the season finale of the campaign to be held in the United States, with just over a hundred days to go before they hit the circuit for the maiden outing in Australia at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a monumental challenge, they are cognizant there will never be enough hours in the day.

The CTO, Nick Chester, joined the embryonic team in March 2023 shortly after it was established, when the organization were without even an approved entry. He has been at its heart ever since and gets a wry smile when reflecting on the experience.

“There might be a brief moment thinking back at what the team has achieved and think: ‘Incredible, how impressive what we’ve done in less than three years,’” Chester states. “But then the following moment you think: ‘Well, we still have a significant amount to do.’”

An Unprecedented Opportunity

Chester had success at the Renault team in the driver Fernando Alonso's championship-winning campaigns of 2005 and 2006 and was in command of technical direction at the new Mercedes electric racing team, but no other project has been quite like the mission of introducing the quintessentially American Cadillac marque, a works entry backed by the owner, General Motors, into F1.

“Creating an grand prix team from the ground up, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he observes. “There's nothing comparable. In an established team you don’t get the possibility to change organizational mindset.”

With each day that elapses thoughts are more focused on the looming decisive point in Melbourne and expectations are being set realistically.

“You have to assume that any new team entering the sport is going to be last but just making it to the starting line will be an accomplishment in itself,” Lowdon stated this year and while Nick Chester echoed this he thought the squad had a point to prove as well.

“Our primary goal we want to show is that we should be there,” he says. “In order that we turn up and we function efficiently. We want to show that we are a serious contender performing the proper actions on the circuit. After we have demonstrated that our credentials are solid, then we aim to demonstrate improvement subsequently.”

Driver Lineup and Team Building Effort

In late summer they recruited Checo Pérez and Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a duo notable for their priceless expertise in competing at the leading positions in two top-tier teams, the Red Bull team and the Mercedes team, and Bottas reflected the mood of fighting spirit.

“Naturally, we’re realistic,” Bottas stated. “There’s going to be a massive task to do, and we expect almost certainly a difficult start, because this is Formula One. But our goal isn't to remain at the rear. I am confident given this organization, with these individuals, this staff, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to advance swiftly to a competitive level and achieve good results.”

To that end staff acquisition has been in top gear, with personnel now reaching more than 400 and intended to reach the objective of 600 swiftly. Complementing their existing facility at the UK base, the team are in the process of completing an HQ at Fishers, Indiana in Indy and there is the General Motors facility in North Carolina, where they are building the center to build the power unit, set for 2029 – in the meantime they will run Ferrari power units – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a sophisticated organisation, different from the trend in F1 for greater centralisation, and has prompted the fresh organizational mindset to which Chester alluded.

Apollo Blueprint

“It’s highly modelled on the NASA moon mission,” said Graeme Lowdon shortly before the Silverstone race in July. “We’re realistic, we know how tough it is. The timelines, they’re super, super, super short. Well, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but the pressure is comparable.”

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

“If you have to go through a process where a challenge emerges and they raise it up to their manager, that leader consults a leader in another department, it travels back down, it becomes inefficient,” notes Nick Chester. “So we empower staff to handle things directly. Avoiding 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 intensity of Grand Prix in 2026 and there is a significant degree riding on this for Formula One, too. Cadillac have signed as their development driver the young American Colton Herta