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A little more than one year previously at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately granted the official approval as the world of Formula One's latest entrant for the 2026 season. Establishing the squad from nothing has entailed a intense pace of work that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo moon landing. As Formula One converges on Las Vegas this weekend, Cadillac are aware time is getting tight.

The Countdown to Australia

At the season finale of the campaign to be hosted in the United States, with approximately 100 days to go before they take to the track for the first time in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a sisyphean challenge, they are cognizant there will never be sufficient time.

The technical director, Nick Chester, joined the nascent operation in the spring of 2023 shortly after it was created, when the squad were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its core from that point and has a knowing grin when considering the journey.

“There might be a brief moment looking back at what the team has achieved and go: ‘Wow, isn’t this fantastic what we’ve done in less than three years,’” he notes. “And then the next minute you think: ‘Yes, there is still quite a lot to do.’”

A One-of-a-Kind Task

Chester achieved victories at the Renault team in Alonso's title-winning seasons of the mid-2000s and was in command of technical direction at the then-new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but nothing has quite compared with the task of bringing the all-American Cadillac name, a works entry sponsored by the parent company, GM, into Formula One.

“Building an grand prix team from scratch, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” Chester remarks. “There's nothing comparable. In an established team you won't have the possibility to transform cultural approach.”

With each day that goes by thoughts are increasingly concentrated on the approaching critical moment in Melbourne and goals are being set realistically.

“It's reasonable to expect that any incoming team entering the sport is likely to start at the back but merely participating will be an achievement in itself,” Lowdon stated recently and while Chester agreed with this sentiment he believed the team had a point to prove as well.

“Our primary goal we intend to prove is that we deserve to be there,” Chester explains. “In order that we turn up and we perform competently. We seek to prove that this is a professional operation performing the right things on the circuit. Once we’ve shown that we are a legitimate team, then we will focus on progression from there on.”

Racing Talent and Team Building Drive

In August they signed Sergio Pérez and Bottas as their pilots for 2026, a pair notable for their priceless expertise in performing at the leading positions in two top-tier teams, Red Bull and the Mercedes team, and the Finnish driver echoed the attitude of fighting spirit.

“Of course, we’re realistic,” Bottas stated. “We have a huge amount of work to do, and we expect probably a tough opening, because it is F1. But our goal isn't to finish last. I am confident with this setup, with this group, these personnel, there is every reason that we shouldn’t be able to get relatively quickly to a competitive level and achieve good results.”

To that end staff acquisition has been in full swing, with employees now at over 400 and intended to reach the target of 600 members quickly. Complementing their present headquarters at the UK base, the squad are in the midst of building an main base at the Fishers location in Indy and there is the GM works in North Carolina, where they are constructing the plant to manufacture the 2029 engine, planned for 2029 – until then they will operate with power from Ferrari – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne. It is a sophisticated structure, at odds with the direction in Formula One for increased consolidation, and has led to the innovative team culture to which the CTO referred.

NASA Model

“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo program,” said the team principal shortly before the British GP in July. “We are pragmatic, we recognize how challenging it is. The deadlines, are incredibly tight. Well, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but the pressure is comparable.”

So they have adopted, as opposed to the usual hierarchical system, a flat management structure similar to that of Nasa’s, where there were a variety of project teams all working on various components of the program in a variety of locations.

“If you have to go through a process where a challenge emerges and they escalate it to their supervisor, that supervisor communicates with a manager in another department, it is relayed back, the process is very slow,” explains the CTO. “So we empower staff to handle things directly. Moving away from management approval for everything is much smoother and more rapid.”

The Future

The success of this nimble methodology will be tested in the intensity of Grand Prix next season and there is no little amount on the line for the sport, too. Cadillac have signed as their test driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta