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Just over one year ago at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally awarded the green light as Formula One’s newest entry for the 2026 season. Establishing the organization from the ground up has involved a frenetic pace of work that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo program. As the sport converges on the Vegas strip this race weekend, the team understand the clock is ticking.

The Countdown to Australia

At the final race of the season to be held in the US, with approximately three months to go before they hit the circuit for the first time in Australia at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a monumental task, they are conscious there will never be sufficient time.

The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, became part of the newly formed project in the spring of 2023 not long after it was created, when the squad were without even an approved entry. He has been at its core from that point and gets a knowing grin when reflecting on the ride.

“You can have a short period thinking back at what you’ve done and think: ‘Incredible, how impressive what we have built in a short three-year period,’” he notes. “And then the very next instant you consider: ‘Yes, we still have a significant amount to do.’”

A Unique Opportunity

Nick Chester had success at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s title-winning seasons of 2005/2006 and was in charge of engineering strategy at the recently formed Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no previous experience has been quite like the challenge of launching the iconic American Cadillac marque, a factory team supported by the corporate entity, General Motors Corporation, into F1.

“Building an grand prix 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 cultural approach.”

With every day that elapses minds are increasingly concentrated on the looming critical moment in Australia and goals are being managed.

“One must presume that any incoming team entering the sport is probably going to finish last but simply getting on to the grid will be an achievement in itself,” Graeme Lowdon stated recently and while Nick Chester echoed this he felt the team had a reputation to build as well.

“The initial objective we intend to prove is that we should be there,” Chester explains. “So that we turn up and we operate well. We want to show that we are a serious contender executing the correct procedures on the race track. When we’ve shown that we are a legitimate team, then we will focus on improvement after that.”

Racing Talent and Recruitment Push

In August they signed Sergio Pérez and Valtteri as their pilots for 2026, a duo notable for their invaluable experience in performing at the sharp end in two of the sport’s biggest teams, the Red Bull team and Mercedes-AMG, and Valtteri Bottas expressed the sentiment of combative optimism.

“Certainly, we’re realistic,” Bottas stated. “We have a mountain of work to do, and we expect probably a challenging beginning, because it is F1. But we aren't joining to stay at the back. I am confident with this structure, with these individuals, these people, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to progress rapidly to the front and enjoy some success.”

To that end staff acquisition has been in full swing, with personnel now up to in excess of 400 and planned to attain the objective of six hundred rapidly. Alongside their current base at the UK base, the squad are in the process of building an main base at the Fishers location in Indianapolis and there is the GM plant in North Carolina, where they are developing the center to build the 2029 engine, scheduled for the 2029 season – for now they will operate with Ferrari power units – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Germany. It is a intricate organisation, different from the direction in the sport for increased consolidation, and has inspired the innovative team culture to which the CTO referred.

Apollo Inspiration

“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo program,” stated Lowdon ahead of the British GP in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we recognize how challenging it is. The schedules, they’re super, super, super short. Alright, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it can seem that way.”

So they have adopted, instead of the traditional management structure, a flat management structure akin to that of NASA's, where there were a variety of specialist groups all tackling distinct elements of the project across a variety of locations.

“If you have to go through a procedure where someone has a problem and they escalate it to their supervisor, that supervisor talks to a supervisor in another department, it is relayed back, the process is very slow,” notes Chester. “So we empower people to handle things directly. Moving away from management approval for everything is much smoother and more rapid.”

The Future

The success of this agile strategy will be evaluated in the heat of competition next season and there is a significant degree at stake for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have taken on as their reserve driver the young Californian Colton Herta