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Approximately one year previously at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally awarded the green light as the world of Formula One's latest entrant for 2026. Constructing the squad from the ground up has involved a hectic work rate that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo moon landing. As Formula One converges on Las Vegas this weekend, Cadillac understand the deadline is approaching.

The Countdown to Melbourne

At the season finale of the championship to be held in the America, with around a hundred days to go before they make their debut for the first time in Australia at the first race of 2026, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a sisyphean task, they are cognizant there will not be sufficient time.

The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, became part of the newly formed team in March 2023 not long after it was established, when the squad were without even an approved entry. He has been at its core since then and enjoys a knowing grin when reflecting on the journey.

“You can have a short period looking back at what the team has achieved and go: ‘Amazing, isn’t this fantastic what the team has created in under three years,’” Chester states. “But then the very next instant you think: ‘Yes, we still have a significant amount to do.’”

An Unprecedented Opportunity

Chester had success at the Renault team in Alonso's title-winning campaigns of 2005 and 2006 and was in control of technical direction at the then-new Mercedes Formula E team, but nothing has truly matched the task of bringing the quintessentially American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry sponsored by the owner, GM, into Formula One.

“Building an Formula One team from scratch, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” Chester remarks. “It is like nothing else. In an existing team you rarely get the possibility to transform cultural approach.”

With each passing day that passes minds are increasingly concentrated on the impending critical moment in Melbourne and goals are being set realistically.

“It's reasonable to expect that any incoming team joining the grid is likely to start at the back but merely participating will be an achievement in itself,” Lowdon commented earlier this year and while Chester agreed with this sentiment he felt the organization had a reputation to build as well.

“The initial objective we aim to demonstrate is that we should be there,” he emphasizes. “So we turn up and we perform competently. We want to show that we’re a proper team performing the right things on the circuit. After we have demonstrated that our credentials are solid, then we will focus on progression after that.”

Racing Talent and Team Building Push

In August they contracted Checo Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their drivers for the 2026 season, a tandem distinguished for their invaluable experience in performing at the front in two of the sport’s biggest teams, the Red Bull team and the Mercedes team, and the Finnish driver reflected the sentiment of combative optimism.

“Naturally, we’re realistic,” he commented. “There’s going to be a huge amount of work to do, and we expect most likely a difficult start, because this is Formula One. But we’re not there to finish last. I am confident given this organization, with this group, these personnel, it's entirely possible we shouldn’t be able to get relatively quickly to a competitive level and taste victory.”

To achieve that goal hiring has been in overdrive, with personnel now up to over 400 and planned to hit the objective of six hundred quickly. In addition to their current base at the UK base, the organization are in the process of finishing an headquarters at Fishers, Indiana in Indianapolis and there is the GM plant in North Carolina, where they are building the center to produce the new engine, set for 2029 – until then they will run Ferrari engines – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne. It is a sophisticated organization, contrary to the movement in Formula One for greater centralisation, and has inspired the innovative team culture to which the CTO alluded.

Apollo Blueprint

“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo project,” stated the team principal ahead of the British Grand Prix in mid-season. “We are pragmatic, we understand how tough it is. The deadlines, are incredibly tight. Well, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it feels like it sometimes.”

So they have adopted, as opposed to the usual hierarchical system, a non-hierarchical approach similar to that of the space agency's, where there were a assortment of specialist groups all working on various components of the program across a multiple sites.

“In a system where you follow a protocol where a challenge emerges and they report it to their team leader, that leader communicates with a leader at a different location, it goes back down the chain, it’s super slow,” notes the CTO. “So we empower people to take charge. Avoiding managerial sign-off for each action is so much cleaner and faster.”

What Lies Ahead

The effectiveness of this nimble approach will be proven in the heat of competition next season and there is no little amount riding on this for F1, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their test driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta