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Just over twelve months in the past at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were ultimately given the official approval as the world of Formula One's newest participant for the 2026 season. Constructing the squad from nothing has required a intense pace of work that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo program. As Formula One arrives on Las Vegas this race weekend, the team are aware time is getting tight.

The Tight Timeline to Australia

At the last event of the season to be held in the US, with approximately 100 days to go before they make their debut for the first time in Melbourne 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 endeavor, they are conscious there will never be enough hours in the day.

The CTO, Nick Chester, became part of the nascent project in March 2023 not long after it was formed, when the organization were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its center since then and gets a wry smile when considering the ride.

“You can have five minutes thinking back at what you’ve done and say: ‘Incredible, what an achievement what we’ve done in less than three years,’” he says. “Then the very next instant you realize: ‘Yeah, there is still a significant amount to do.’”

An Unprecedented Task

The CTO enjoyed success at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s championship-winning years of 2005 and 2006 and was in control of technical development at the then-new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but nothing has truly matched the mission of introducing the quintessentially American Cadillac brand, a factory team backed by the owner, General Motors, into F1.

“Creating an Formula One team from nothing, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he says. “It's unparalleled. In an existing team you rarely get the possibility to change team culture.”

With each day that goes by thoughts are increasingly concentrated on the looming decisive point in Melbourne and targets are being handled.

“You have to assume that a brand-new squad joining the grid is probably going to finish last but simply getting on to the grid will be an achievement in itself,” Graeme Lowdon stated this year and while the CTO echoed this he believed the squad had a reputation to build as well.

“The first thing we want to show is that we belong on the grid,” he emphasizes. “In order that we arrive and we function efficiently. We aim to demonstrate that we are a serious contender executing the proper actions on the track. When we have demonstrated that we’re really credible, then we aim to demonstrate forward movement after that.”

Driver Lineup and Recruitment Drive

In late summer they recruited Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their pilots for the 2026 season, a duo 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 Valtteri Bottas echoed the attitude of fighting spirit.

“Naturally, we’re realistic,” Bottas stated. “We face a huge amount of work to do, and it’s going to be almost certainly a difficult start, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we’re not there to remain at the rear. I am confident with this structure, with this team, this staff, there is every reason that we won't be able to advance swiftly up to the pace and enjoy some success.”

To that end staff acquisition has been in top gear, with staff now up to in excess of 400 and scheduled to reach the goal of six hundred quickly. In addition to their current base at Silverstone, the organization are in the phase of completing an HQ at Fishers in Indianapolis and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are constructing the facility to produce the 2029 engine, set for 2029 – until then they will operate with Ferrari engines – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne. It is a sophisticated organization, at odds with the trend in the sport for greater centralisation, and has inspired the new cultural approach to which Nick Chester referred.

Apollo Inspiration

“It’s highly modelled on the NASA moon mission,” said Lowdon ahead of the Silverstone race in mid-season. “We have a clear-eyed view, we understand how challenging 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 implemented, as opposed to the conventional chain of command, a flat management structure comparable to that of NASA's, where there were a range of Apollo teams all tackling different aspects of the program across a multiple sites.

“When you must follow a process where an issue arises and they report it to their manager, that leader consults a supervisor somewhere else, it goes back down the chain, it becomes inefficient,” says Chester. “So we empower staff to take charge. Avoiding hierarchical consent for each action is far more efficient and faster.”

What Lies Ahead

The success of this flexible strategy will be tested in the pressure of racing next season and there is no little amount on the line for the sport, too. Cadillac have taken on as their test driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta