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Just over twelve months previously at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally awarded the go-ahead as the world of Formula One's most recent entrant for 2026. Establishing the squad from the ground up has involved a intense pace of work that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo moon landing. As Formula One arrives on Las Vegas this race weekend, the team are aware time is getting tight.

The Countdown to Melbourne

At the last event of the season to be hosted in the US, with just over 100 days to go before they make their debut for the first time in Melbourne at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a sisyphean task, they are conscious there will never be adequate time.

The CTO, Nick Chester, became part of the nascent team in the spring of 2023 shortly after it was established, when the squad were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its core from that point and enjoys a knowing grin when reflecting on the ride.

“There might be a short period reflecting at what you have accomplished and say: ‘Amazing, isn’t this fantastic what we have built in a short three-year period,’” Chester states. “Then the following moment you consider: ‘Well, there is still a significant amount to do.’”

A Unique Task

Chester achieved victories at the Renault team in the driver Fernando Alonso's victorious years of 2005 and 2006 and was in command of engineering strategy at the new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no previous experience has truly matched the mission of introducing the iconic American Cadillac brand, a factory team sponsored by the owner, GM, into Formula One.

“Building an F1 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 won't have the chance to change organizational mindset.”

With every day that elapses minds are sharper on the looming moment of truth in Melbourne and expectations are being set realistically.

“It's reasonable to expect that any new team entering the sport is going to be last but merely participating will be an feat in itself,” Lowdon stated earlier this year and while the CTO echoed this he felt the organization had a reputation to build as well.

“Our primary goal we intend to prove is that we belong on the grid,” he says. “So that we turn up and we perform competently. We aim to demonstrate that we’re a proper team executing the correct procedures on the circuit. Once we have demonstrated that we’re really credible, then we aim to demonstrate forward movement subsequently.”

Driver Lineup and Recruitment Drive

In late summer they recruited Checo Pérez and Bottas as their drivers for the 2026 season, a duo notable for their priceless expertise in operating at the leading positions in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes-AMG, and Bottas expressed the attitude of fighting spirit.

“Naturally, we have a realistic outlook,” he said. “There’s going to be a huge amount of work to do, and it’s going to be most likely a challenging beginning, because it is F1. But we aren't joining to finish last. In my view with this setup, with this group, these people, it's entirely possible we shouldn’t be able to get relatively quickly up to the pace and taste victory.”

To achieve that goal recruitment has been in overdrive, with employees now reaching over 400 and intended to reach the target of 600 quickly. In addition to their current base at the Silverstone circuit, the team are in the midst of building an HQ at Fishers, Indiana in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, where they are constructing the plant to build the power unit, set for the 2029 season – in the meantime they will use power from Ferrari – and the aerodynamic facility in Germany. It is a complex structure, at odds with the trend in F1 for increased consolidation, and has led to the new cultural approach to which Chester alluded.

Space Mission Inspiration

“It's closely based on the Apollo program,” remarked Lowdon just before the British GP in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we understand how difficult it is. The schedules, are incredibly tight. OK, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it can seem that way.”

So they have adopted, rather than the traditional management structure, a flat management structure similar to that of NASA's, where there were a assortment of Apollo teams all focusing on distinct elements of the program at a variety of locations.

“When you must follow a process where someone has a problem and they escalate it to their manager, that leader communicates with a leader somewhere else, it goes back down the chain, it’s super slow,” says Chester. “We give authority to people to really get on with it. Moving away from hierarchical consent for all decisions is far more efficient and more rapid.”

The Future

The success of this nimble approach will be evaluated in the pressure of racing when the season begins and there is a considerable amount at stake for F1, too. Cadillac have recruited as their reserve driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta