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Just over one year ago at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were ultimately awarded the go-ahead as the world of Formula One's newest entry for 2026. Building the squad from scratch has involved a intense work rate that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo moon landing. As the sport converges on the Vegas strip this race weekend, the team understand the clock is ticking.

The Countdown to Melbourne

At the season finale of the championship to be staged in the United States, with just over 100 days to go before they hit the circuit for the first time in Australia at the first race of 2026, the Cadillac F1 project have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a sisyphean challenge, they are conscious there will not be adequate time.

The CTO, Nick Chester, came aboard the nascent team in March 2023 soon after it was formed, when the organization were without even an official entry. He has been at its heart from that point and has a amused expression when thinking about the journey.

“You might get five minutes looking back at what you’ve done and think: ‘Amazing, how impressive what we have built in a short three-year period,’” he says. “And then the following moment you consider: ‘Yes, there is still quite a lot to do.’”

An Unprecedented Task

The CTO enjoyed success at the Renault team in the driver Fernando Alonso's championship-winning years of 2005/2006 and was in charge of technical development at the new Mercedes Formula E team, but no other project has truly matched the task of bringing the quintessentially American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry backed by the owner, GM, into the pinnacle of motorsport.

“Creating an Formula One team from the ground up, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” Chester remarks. “It's unparalleled. In an existing team you rarely get the chance to transform cultural approach.”

With every day that goes by focus are increasingly concentrated on the impending critical moment in Australia and goals are being set realistically.

“You have to assume that any incoming team coming in is likely to start at the back but simply getting on to the grid will be an achievement in itself,” the team principal noted recently and while the CTO echoed this he felt the organization had a statement to make as well.

“The first thing we want to show is that we deserve to be there,” Chester explains. “So we show up and we operate well. We aim to demonstrate that we’re a proper team executing the right things on the track. After we prove that our credentials are solid, then we will focus on improvement subsequently.”

Pilot Selection and Hiring Effort

In late summer they recruited Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a tandem distinguished for their priceless expertise in performing at the leading positions in two top-tier teams, Red Bull Racing and the Mercedes team, and Valtteri Bottas echoed the mood of combative optimism.

“Naturally, we’re realistic,” he commented. “We face a massive task to do, and we expect probably a challenging beginning, because it's the top level of motorsport. But our goal isn't to stay at the back. I am confident with this structure, with these individuals, these people, there is every reason that we shouldn’t be able to advance swiftly up to the pace and taste victory.”

To that end hiring has been in overdrive, with staff now at in excess of 400 and intended to hit the goal of 600 rapidly. Complementing their present headquarters at the Silverstone circuit, the squad are in the phase of completing an HQ at Fishers, Indiana in Indianapolis and there is the General Motors facility in North Carolina, where they are constructing the center to produce the new engine, scheduled for 2029 – until then they will operate with power from Ferrari – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Germany. It is a complex organisation, at odds with the direction in the sport for greater centralisation, and has led to the fresh organizational mindset to which Nick Chester alluded.

Space Mission Blueprint

“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo program,” stated Graeme Lowdon ahead of the British Grand Prix in the summer. “We’re realistic, we know how difficult it is. The schedules, they’re super, super, super short. OK, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it feels like it sometimes.”

So they have embraced, rather than the conventional chain of command, a decentralized management similar to that of NASA's, where there were a range of project teams all tackling distinct elements of the program across a different facilities.

“If you have to go through a protocol where a challenge emerges and they escalate it to their manager, that supervisor consults a leader somewhere else, it goes back down the chain, it’s super slow,” says Nick Chester. “We give authority to people to handle things directly. Eliminating managerial sign-off for each action is far more efficient and quicker.”

The Future

The efficacy of this agile methodology will be evaluated in the pressure of racing next season and there is a considerable amount on the line for F1, too. Cadillac have signed as their reserve driver the emerging American Colton Herta