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Just over twelve months ago at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally awarded the go-ahead as F1's most recent entry for the 2026 season. Building the team from nothing has entailed a hectic pace of work that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo program. As the sport arrives on Las Vegas this race weekend, the team know the clock is ticking.

The Tight Timeline to Melbourne

At the final race of the championship to be held in the US, with around three months to go before they make their debut for the maiden outing in Australia at the first race of 2026, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a never-ending endeavor, they are conscious there will not be adequate time.

The CTO, Nick Chester, became part of the newly formed team in the spring of 2023 not long after it was established, when the squad were without even an official entry. He has been at its center ever since and enjoys a amused expression when reflecting on the ride.

“You might get a brief moment thinking back at what you have accomplished and think: ‘Amazing, isn’t this fantastic what we have built in a short three-year period,’” he says. “And then the next minute you think: ‘Yes, there is still quite a lot to do.’”

A One-of-a-Kind Opportunity

Chester achieved victories at Renault in the driver Fernando Alonso's victorious years of 2005/2006 and was in command of technical development at the then-new Mercedes Formula E team, but no previous experience has truly matched the task of bringing the all-American Cadillac marque, a factory team supported by the corporate entity, GM, into F1.

“Establishing an Formula One team from scratch, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he says. “It's unparalleled. In an established team you rarely get the possibility to alter team culture.”

With each day that passes thoughts are sharper on the impending decisive point in Melbourne and targets are being set realistically.

“It's reasonable to expect that any new team joining the grid is likely to start at the back but merely participating will be an accomplishment in itself,” the team principal commented recently and while Chester echoed this he believed the squad had a reputation to build as well.

“Our primary goal we want to show is that we belong on the grid,” he emphasizes. “So that we turn up and we function efficiently. We seek to prove that we are a serious contender doing the proper actions on the track. After we have demonstrated that we’re really credible, then we want to show progression subsequently.”

Driver Lineup and Recruitment Drive

In the summer they contracted Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a duo distinguished for their priceless expertise in operating at the leading positions in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull and the Mercedes team, and Bottas echoed the attitude of combative optimism.

“Naturally, we have a realistic outlook,” he said. “We have a mountain of work to do, and we expect probably a tough opening, because it is F1. But we aren't joining to stay at the back. In my view with this structure, with these individuals, this staff, there’s no reason why we won't be able to progress rapidly to a competitive level and taste victory.”

To achieve that goal recruitment has been in full swing, with staff now reaching in excess of 400 and planned to hit the target of six hundred swiftly. In addition to their existing facility at the UK base, the organization are in the midst of completing an main base at Fishers in Indianapolis and there is the GM works in North Carolina, where they are building the facility to produce the 2029 engine, scheduled for 2029 – in the meantime they will operate with power from Ferrari – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne. It is a sophisticated structure, contrary to the direction in F1 for more centralization, and has led to the fresh organizational mindset to which Nick Chester referred.

Space Mission Blueprint

“It's closely based on the Apollo project,” stated Lowdon shortly before the British Grand Prix in the summer. “We have a clear-eyed view, we understand how challenging it is. The schedules, they’re super, super, super short. OK, it's not a space expedition, but it can seem that way.”

So they have implemented, instead of the traditional management structure, a non-hierarchical approach akin to that of the space agency's, where there were a variety of specialist groups all focusing on various components of the project across a different facilities.

“In a system where you follow a process where a challenge emerges and they report it to their supervisor, that manager communicates with a supervisor at a different location, it travels back down, the process is very slow,” says Chester. “We give authority to staff to really get on with it. Avoiding managerial sign-off for everything is much smoother and quicker.”

The Future

The success of this agile approach will be proven in the intensity of Grand Prix when the season begins and there is a significant degree at stake for Formula One, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their reserve driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta