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Just over a full year previously at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally given the official approval as F1's newest entry for 2026. Constructing the organization from nothing has involved a hectic operating tempo that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo program. As the sport descends on Las Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac understand the clock is ticking.

The Race Against Time to Australia

At the last event of the campaign to be hosted in the US, with around three months to go before they take to the track for the first time in Australia at the first race of 2026, the Cadillac F1 project have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a monumental challenge, they are aware there will not be sufficient time.

The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, came aboard the newly formed operation in early 2023 not long after it was formed, when the squad were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its core ever since and has a wry smile when considering the journey.

“You can have a short period reflecting at what you have accomplished and think: ‘Incredible, what an achievement what the team has created in a short three-year period,’” Chester states. “Then the very next instant you think: ‘Yes, we still have a significant amount to do.’”

A One-of-a-Kind Task

Nick Chester achieved victories at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s victorious campaigns of 2005/2006 and was in control of technical direction at the then-new Mercedes electric racing team, but no previous experience has truly matched the mission of launching the quintessentially American Cadillac brand, a works entry backed by the owner, General Motors, into the pinnacle of motorsport.

“Building an F1 team from nothing, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he says. “There's nothing comparable. In an established team you don’t get the possibility to transform cultural approach.”

With every day that passes minds are sharper on the approaching critical moment in Australia and targets are being set realistically.

“It's reasonable to expect that any incoming team joining the grid is going to be last but simply getting on to the grid will be an accomplishment in itself,” the team principal stated earlier this year and while the CTO echoed this he felt the organization had a statement to make as well.

“The initial objective we aim to demonstrate is that we should be there,” he says. “So we arrive and we perform competently. We seek to prove that this is a professional operation doing the proper actions on the track. Once we have demonstrated that we are a legitimate team, then we aim to demonstrate progression after that.”

Racing Talent and Hiring Push

In August they contracted Sergio Pérez and Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a duo notable for their invaluable experience in performing at the front in two top-tier teams, Red Bull Racing and the Mercedes team, and Bottas reflected the attitude of determined optimism.

“Naturally, we have a realistic outlook,” he said. “There’s going to be a mountain of work to do, and we expect most likely a tough opening, because this is Formula One. But we aren't joining to stay at the back. I believe with this structure, with this group, these people, it's entirely possible we can't manage to progress rapidly to a competitive level and enjoy some success.”

To that end recruitment has been in overdrive, with employees now reaching over 400 and planned to attain the goal of 600 members quickly. Alongside their current base at the UK base, the team are in the phase of building an HQ at the Fishers location in Indy and there is the General Motors facility in North Carolina, where they are constructing the center to build the power unit, set for 2029 – for now they will run Ferrari power units – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne. It is a complex organization, different from the direction in Formula One for greater centralisation, and has led to the new cultural approach to which Chester alluded.

NASA Inspiration

“It's closely based on the Apollo project,” stated Graeme Lowdon just before the British Grand Prix in mid-season. “We’re realistic, we recognize how challenging it is. The timelines, they’re super, super, super short. Alright, it's not a space expedition, but it can seem that way.”

So they have implemented, instead of the usual hierarchical system, a non-hierarchical approach akin to that of Nasa’s, where there were a assortment of Apollo teams all tackling different aspects of the program across a different facilities.

“In a system where you follow a process where an issue arises and they escalate it to their team leader, that supervisor consults a supervisor at a different location, it is relayed back, it becomes inefficient,” says Chester. “We give authority to people to take charge. Eliminating managerial sign-off for everything is so much cleaner and faster.”

The Future

The success of this flexible approach will be evaluated in the heat of competition when the season begins and there is a significant degree on the line for the sport, too. Cadillac have signed as their test driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta