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A little more than one year in the past at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were at last granted the green light as Formula One’s newest participant for 2026. Establishing the squad from the ground up has involved a hectic pace of work that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo program. As the sport converges on the Vegas strip this race weekend, Cadillac understand the clock is ticking.

The Tight Timeline to Melbourne

At the season finale of the campaign to be staged in the US, with around a hundred days to go before they take to the track for the maiden outing in Australia at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a never-ending task, they are aware there will never be adequate time.

The CTO, Nick Chester, became part of the nascent project in early 2023 soon after it was formed, when the squad were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its center since then and gets a knowing grin when considering the experience.

“You might get a brief moment looking back at what you’ve done and think: ‘Incredible, what an achievement what we’ve done in a short three-year period,’” Chester states. “And then the very next instant you think: ‘Yeah, we still have a significant amount to do.’”

A One-of-a-Kind Task

Chester enjoyed success at the Renault team in Alonso's victorious campaigns of the mid-2000s and was in control of technical development at the recently formed Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but nothing has quite compared with the task of launching the quintessentially American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry sponsored by the owner, General Motors Corporation, into Formula One.

“Creating an F1 team from nothing, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he observes. “There's nothing comparable. In an established team you won't have the opportunity to alter organizational mindset.”

With each day that elapses focus are more focused on the looming critical moment in Melbourne and goals are being handled.

“One must presume that any incoming team entering the sport is likely to start at the back but just making it to the starting line will be an feat in itself,” Graeme Lowdon stated recently and while the CTO echoed this he thought the squad had a reputation to build as well.

“The first thing we want to show is that we belong on the grid,” he emphasizes. “So that we turn up and we perform competently. We want to show that we’re a proper team doing the right things on the circuit. Once we have demonstrated that we’re really credible, then we want to show forward movement from there on.”

Driver Lineup and Recruitment Push

In August they signed Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas as their racers for 2026, a tandem distinguished for their priceless expertise in performing at the sharp end in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes, and Valtteri Bottas reflected the mood of determined optimism.

“Certainly, we have a realistic outlook,” Bottas stated. “We have a huge amount of work to do, and it will likely be most likely a tough opening, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we’re not there to finish last. I am confident given this organization, with these individuals, this staff, there’s no reason why we can't manage to progress rapidly to the front and enjoy some success.”

To achieve that goal recruitment has been in full swing, with staff now at in excess of 400 and intended to hit the goal of 600 members swiftly. In addition to their present headquarters at the UK base, the squad are in the midst of finishing an headquarters at the Fishers location in Indianapolis and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are developing the plant to produce the new engine, set for the 2029 season – until then they will use Ferrari power units – and the aerodynamic facility in Germany. It is a complex structure, at odds with the direction in the sport for increased consolidation, and has led to the fresh organizational mindset to which Chester referred.

Apollo Blueprint

“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo program,” said Graeme Lowdon ahead of the British Grand Prix in the summer. “We are pragmatic, we know how tough it is. The deadlines, are extremely compressed. Well, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it feels like it sometimes.”

So they have adopted, rather than the conventional chain of command, a non-hierarchical approach akin to that of NASA's, where there were a variety of specialist groups all working on different aspects of the mission across a multiple sites.

“If you have to go through a protocol where an issue arises and they raise it up to their team leader, that leader communicates with a supervisor in another department, it goes back down the chain, the process is very slow,” explains Nick Chester. “We give authority to team members to handle things directly. Avoiding hierarchical consent for everything is much smoother and more rapid.”

What Lies Ahead

The efficacy of this flexible methodology will be proven in the intensity of Grand Prix in 2026 and there is no little amount on the line for F1, too. Cadillac have signed as their reserve driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta