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Just over twelve months ago at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally given the green light as Formula One’s newest participant for the 2026 season. Building the organization from scratch has involved a frenetic pace of work that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo moon landing. As Formula One converges on the Vegas strip this weekend, Cadillac are aware the clock is ticking.

The Countdown to Australia

At the last event of the season to be hosted in the America, with just over three months to go before they hit the circuit for the maiden outing in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a sisyphean task, they are aware there will never be enough hours in the day.

The CTO, Nick Chester, joined the newly formed project in March 2023 soon after it was created, when the squad were without even an approved entry. He has been at its heart since then and has a wry smile when reflecting on the ride.

“You can have five minutes reflecting at what you have accomplished and go: ‘Amazing, what an achievement what the team has created in under three years,’” he says. “But then the next minute you think: ‘Yes, we still have a significant amount to do.’”

A Unique Opportunity

Chester enjoyed success at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s victorious years of the mid-2000s and was in charge of technical development at the then-new Mercedes electric racing team, but nothing has truly matched the task of launching the all-American Cadillac marque, a factory team sponsored by the parent company, General Motors, into F1.

“Establishing an Formula One team from the ground up, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” Chester remarks. “It is like nothing else. In an well-set team you don’t get the chance to change organizational mindset.”

With every day that passes thoughts are increasingly concentrated on the looming moment of truth in Melbourne and expectations are being set realistically.

“One must presume that a brand-new squad entering the sport is probably going to finish last but merely participating will be an feat in itself,” Graeme Lowdon noted this year and while the CTO agreed with this sentiment he felt the squad had a reputation to build as well.

“Our primary goal we intend to prove is that we belong on the grid,” he says. “In order that we show up and we perform competently. We seek to prove that we’re a proper team executing the correct procedures on the circuit. After we have demonstrated that our credentials are solid, then we want to show improvement from there on.”

Driver Lineup and Team Building Drive

In the summer they recruited Checo Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their racers for 2026, a duo remarkable for their priceless expertise in competing at the sharp end in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull and the Mercedes team, and Valtteri Bottas reflected the mood of combative optimism.

“Naturally, we are pragmatic,” Bottas stated. “We have a huge amount of work to do, and it’s going to be most likely a difficult start, because it is F1. But we’re not there to stay at the back. In my view given this organization, with this team, these personnel, it's entirely possible we shouldn’t be able to get relatively quickly up to the pace and enjoy some success.”

To that end recruitment has been in full swing, with staff now at in excess of 400 and scheduled to reach the objective of 600 rapidly. Complementing their present headquarters at the UK base, the team are in the phase of completing an headquarters at Fishers in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are constructing the facility to manufacture the power unit, set for the 2029 season – until then they will operate with power from Ferrari – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a sophisticated organisation, different from the direction in F1 for more centralization, and has inspired the fresh organizational mindset to which Chester referred to.

Apollo Blueprint

“It's closely based on the Apollo program,” remarked the team principal ahead of the British GP in mid-season. “We are pragmatic, we know how tough it is. The deadlines, they’re super, super, super short. OK, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it can seem that way.”

So they have embraced, as opposed to the usual hierarchical system, a flat management structure akin to that of Nasa’s, where there were a range of Apollo teams all tackling various components of the mission at a different facilities.

“In a system where you follow a protocol where a challenge emerges and they raise it up to their team leader, that leader talks to a supervisor in another department, it is relayed back, it’s super slow,” says Chester. “So we empower people to take charge. Avoiding management approval for each action is far more efficient and faster.”

What Lies Ahead

The effectiveness of this flexible approach will be tested in the intensity of Grand Prix in 2026 and there is a significant degree riding on this for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their test driver the emerging American Colton Herta