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Just over one year previously at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were ultimately granted the go-ahead as Formula One’s newest participant for the 2026 season. Constructing the organization from nothing has required a frenetic pace of work that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo moon landing. As the sport descends on Las Vegas this weekend, the team understand the clock is ticking.

The Tight Timeline to Australia

At the last event of the season to be hosted in the US, with approximately three months to go before they hit the circuit 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 never-ending challenge, they are aware there will never be enough hours in the day.

The CTO, Nick Chester, became part of the nascent project in March 2023 soon after it was created, when the team were without even an approved entry. He has been at its heart from that point and enjoys a wry smile when reflecting on the ride.

“You might get a short period reflecting at what you’ve done and think: ‘Incredible, isn’t this fantastic what we have built in less than three years,’” he notes. “Then the following moment you realize: ‘Yeah, we’ve still got quite a lot to do.’”

An Unprecedented Task

The CTO achieved victories at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s championship-winning seasons of 2005 and 2006 and was in control of technical direction at the recently formed Mercedes electric racing team, but nothing has been quite like the task of launching the iconic American Cadillac name, a works entry backed by the corporate entity, General Motors Corporation, into F1.

“Creating an F1 team from nothing, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he says. “There's nothing comparable. In an well-set team you don’t get the chance to alter organizational mindset.”

With each day that passes thoughts are more focused on the impending moment of truth in the Australian GP and goals are being set realistically.

“You have to assume that any new team coming in is probably going to finish last but just making it to the starting line will be an feat in itself,” Lowdon commented earlier this year and while Chester echoed this he thought the organization had a point to prove as well.

“The initial objective we aim to demonstrate is that we deserve to be there,” Chester explains. “So that we show up and we operate well. We want to show that we are a serious contender executing the proper actions on the race track. After we prove that our credentials are solid, then we want to show forward movement from there on.”

Racing Talent and Recruitment Push

In August they contracted Sergio Perez and Valtteri as their drivers for the 2026 season, a pair remarkable for their vast knowledge in performing at the front in two top-tier teams, the Red Bull team and Mercedes, and Valtteri Bottas reflected the mood of fighting spirit.

“Naturally, we have a realistic outlook,” he said. “There’s going to be a mountain of work to do, and we expect probably a tough opening, because this is Formula One. But we’re not there to stay at the back. In my view given this organization, with this group, this staff, there is every reason that we can't manage to progress rapidly to the front and enjoy some success.”

To achieve that goal recruitment has been in overdrive, with staff now at more than 400 and intended to hit the target of 600 rapidly. Complementing their existing facility at the Silverstone circuit, the organization are in the phase of completing an HQ at the Fishers location in Indianapolis and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are developing the plant to manufacture the new engine, set for 2029 – until then they will run Ferrari power units – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a intricate organisation, different from the trend in the sport for increased consolidation, and has led to the new cultural approach to which Chester alluded.

Apollo Inspiration

“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo project,” said Graeme Lowdon just before the British GP in mid-season. “We are pragmatic, we understand how difficult it is. The schedules, are extremely compressed. OK, it's not a space expedition, but it feels like it sometimes.”

So they have implemented, instead of the traditional management structure, a non-hierarchical approach akin to that of Nasa’s, where there were a variety of project teams all tackling distinct elements of the project across a variety of locations.

“If you have to go through a process where someone has a problem and they raise it up to their supervisor, that leader talks to a leader in another department, it travels back down, the process is very slow,” notes Nick Chester. “We give authority to staff to handle things directly. Moving away from management approval for each action is so much cleaner and quicker.”

The Future

The effectiveness of this flexible strategy will be evaluated in the heat of competition in 2026 and there is no little amount on the line for Formula One, too. Cadillac have signed as their test driver the young American Colton Herta