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Just over a full year ago at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately given the green light as F1's newest entry for 2026. Building the squad from scratch has required a intense operating tempo that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the NASA lunar mission. As F1 arrives on the Vegas strip this weekend, the team are aware the clock is ticking.

The Race Against Time to Melbourne

At the last event of the championship to be staged in the United States, with just over a hundred days to go before they take to the track for the first time in Australia at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a monumental challenge, they are aware there will not be sufficient time.

The technical director, Nick Chester, joined the nascent project in early 2023 soon after it was established, when the team were without even an official entry. He has been at its heart from that point and has a amused expression when considering the experience.

“There might be a brief moment thinking back at what you have accomplished and think: ‘Wow, how impressive what we’ve done in under three years,’” Chester states. “Then the very next instant you think: ‘Yeah, there is still a great deal to do.’”

A One-of-a-Kind Opportunity

Chester enjoyed success at the Renault team in the driver Fernando Alonso's victorious seasons of 2005 and 2006 and was in control of engineering strategy at the new Mercedes electric racing team, but no previous experience has been quite like the challenge of launching the iconic American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry sponsored by the corporate entity, General Motors Corporation, into F1.

“Establishing an Formula One team from nothing, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he observes. “It is like nothing else. In an existing team you don’t get the possibility to change organizational mindset.”

With each day that elapses thoughts are sharper on the approaching moment of truth in Australia and targets are being set realistically.

“You have to assume that any incoming team entering the sport is going to be last but merely participating will be an feat in itself,” Graeme Lowdon stated earlier this year and while Nick Chester shared this view he thought the squad had a statement to make as well.

“Our primary goal we aim to demonstrate is that we deserve to be there,” Chester explains. “In order that we turn up and we operate well. We want to show that we’re a proper team doing the correct procedures on the circuit. When we have demonstrated that we’re really credible, then we will focus on improvement after that.”

Driver Lineup and Hiring Effort

In late summer they contracted Checo Pérez and Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a tandem distinguished for their vast knowledge in performing at the sharp end in two top-tier teams, the Red Bull team and Mercedes, and Valtteri Bottas expressed the attitude of fighting spirit.

“Of course, we have a realistic outlook,” he commented. “We face a mountain of work to do, and it will likely be probably a challenging beginning, because it's the top level of motorsport. But our goal isn't to finish last. In my view with this setup, with this team, this staff, it's entirely possible we shouldn’t be able to progress rapidly to a competitive level and taste victory.”

To achieve that goal staff acquisition has been in full swing, with staff now at in excess of 400 and planned to hit the objective of six hundred quickly. In addition to their existing facility at the UK base, the organization are in the process of completing an headquarters at the Fishers location in the Indianapolis area and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, where they are developing the facility to manufacture the 2029 engine, planned for the 2029 season – for now they will operate with Ferrari engines – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne, Germany. It is a intricate organisation, at odds with the direction in the sport for greater centralisation, and has prompted the new cultural approach to which Nick Chester referred to.

Space Mission Blueprint

“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo project,” said Graeme Lowdon ahead of the British GP in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we recognize how difficult it is. The schedules, are incredibly tight. Well, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it feels like it sometimes.”

So they have embraced, as opposed to the traditional management structure, a flat management structure comparable to that of Nasa’s, where there were a variety of Apollo teams all working on different aspects of the mission across a multiple sites.

“If you have to go through a procedure where an issue arises and they escalate it to their team leader, that leader consults a supervisor somewhere else, it goes back down the chain, the process is very slow,” says the CTO. “So we empower staff to take charge. Avoiding management approval for all decisions is much smoother and quicker.”

Upcoming Challenges

The success of this nimble methodology will be evaluated in the pressure of racing when the season begins and there is a considerable amount on the line for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their development driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta