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A little more than one year ago at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were at last granted the green light as Formula One’s newest participant for 2026. Constructing the team from scratch has entailed a intense work rate that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo moon landing. As the sport arrives on Las Vegas this race weekend, the team know the deadline is approaching.

The Countdown to Australia

At the season finale of the campaign to be held in the US, with approximately three months to go before they hit the circuit for the maiden outing in Melbourne 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 never be enough hours in the day.

The technical director, Nick Chester, became part of the newly formed operation in the spring of 2023 shortly after it was formed, when the squad were without even an official entry. He has been at its heart since then and has a knowing grin when considering the experience.

“You can have five minutes reflecting at what the team has achieved and think: ‘Incredible, what an achievement what the team has created in under three years,’” he notes. “Then the next minute you realize: ‘Well, we still have quite a lot to do.’”

An Unprecedented Challenge

The CTO had success at the Renault team in the driver Fernando Alonso's title-winning campaigns of 2005 and 2006 and was in command of technical direction at the recently formed Mercedes electric racing team, but no previous experience has truly matched the challenge of introducing the iconic American Cadillac marque, a manufacturer-backed entry sponsored by the parent company, General Motors Corporation, into F1.

“Establishing an grand prix team from the ground up, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he observes. “It is like nothing else. In an established team you rarely get the chance to transform cultural approach.”

With every day that passes thoughts are increasingly concentrated on the approaching moment of truth in Australia and goals are being handled.

“You have to assume that any incoming team entering the sport is going to be last but just making it to the starting line will be an feat in itself,” Lowdon commented recently and while Nick Chester shared this view he believed the team had a reputation to build as well.

“Our primary goal we want to show is that we deserve to be there,” he emphasizes. “So we arrive and we perform competently. We aim to demonstrate that this is a professional operation doing the proper actions on the track. After we’ve shown that we’re really credible, then we aim to demonstrate progression subsequently.”

Pilot Selection and Recruitment Effort

In late summer they contracted Sergio Pérez and Bottas as their drivers for the 2026 season, a duo remarkable for their priceless expertise in performing at the leading positions in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull and Mercedes, and the Finnish driver expressed the sentiment of combative optimism.

“Certainly, we are pragmatic,” Bottas stated. “We face a huge amount of work to do, and we expect almost certainly a challenging beginning, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we’re not there to remain at the rear. I am confident given this organization, with this group, these people, there’s no reason why we can't manage to advance swiftly up to the pace and enjoy some success.”

To achieve that goal hiring has been in full swing, with employees now up to over 400 and intended to attain the objective of six hundred rapidly. In addition to their existing facility at Silverstone, the organization are in the midst of building an headquarters at Fishers, Indiana in Indy and there is the GM works in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are constructing the facility to produce the 2029 engine, set for the 2029 season – in the meantime they will use power from Ferrari – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a intricate structure, at odds with the trend in F1 for increased consolidation, and has inspired the innovative team culture to which Nick Chester referred to.

Space Mission Inspiration

“We've drawn heavily from the NASA moon mission,” remarked the team principal ahead of the British Grand Prix in the summer. “We are pragmatic, we understand how tough it is. The deadlines, they’re super, super, super short. OK, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it feels like it sometimes.”

So they have embraced, instead of the usual hierarchical system, a flat management structure akin to that of Nasa’s, where there were a assortment of project teams all working on distinct elements of the project in a different facilities.

“When you must follow a protocol where someone has a problem and they report it to their supervisor, that leader consults a supervisor somewhere else, it goes back down the chain, it’s super slow,” explains the CTO. “Therefore we enable staff to take charge. Eliminating managerial sign-off for each action is so much cleaner and quicker.”

What Lies Ahead

The success of this agile approach will be proven in the intensity of Grand Prix in 2026 and there is no little amount on the line for the sport, too. Cadillac have recruited as their reserve driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta