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A little more than twelve months in the past at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately granted the official approval as Formula One’s latest entry for the 2026 season. Building the squad from scratch has required a frenetic pace of work that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo moon landing. As the sport converges on Vegas this weekend, the team understand the clock is ticking.

The Race Against Time to Melbourne

At the season finale of the championship to be staged in the United States, with approximately 100 days to go before they hit the circuit for the first time in Australia at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a never-ending task, they are cognizant there will not be sufficient time.

The technical director, Nick Chester, joined the newly formed operation in March 2023 shortly after it was created, when the team were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its core ever since and gets a amused expression when thinking about the journey.

“There might be five minutes looking back at what you have accomplished and go: ‘Wow, isn’t this fantastic what we’ve done in a short three-year period,’” he notes. “And then the very next instant you realize: ‘Yeah, there is still a significant amount to do.’”

An Unprecedented Opportunity

The CTO achieved victories at Renault in Fernando Alonso’s victorious years of 2005 and 2006 and was in charge of technical development at the new Mercedes electric racing team, but no other project has truly matched the task of introducing the iconic American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry backed by the parent company, General Motors Corporation, into the pinnacle of motorsport.

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

With each passing day that goes by minds are increasingly concentrated on the looming critical moment in Melbourne and targets are being set realistically.

“One must presume that a brand-new squad joining the grid is probably going to finish last but just making it to the starting line will be an feat in itself,” Lowdon commented recently and while Chester agreed with this sentiment he thought the squad had a reputation to build as well.

“The initial objective we intend to prove is that we belong on the grid,” he says. “So that we arrive and we perform competently. We aim to demonstrate that this is a professional operation performing the correct procedures on the circuit. Once we prove that our credentials are solid, then we aim to demonstrate progression from there on.”

Racing Talent and Recruitment Effort

In late summer they signed Checo Pérez and Valtteri as their racers for the 2026 season, a tandem notable for their priceless expertise in operating at the front in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull Racing and the Mercedes team, and Valtteri Bottas reflected the attitude of determined optimism.

“Naturally, we are pragmatic,” Bottas stated. “We have a huge amount of work to do, and it will likely be most likely a challenging beginning, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we’re not there to stay at the back. In my view given this organization, with this group, these people, it's entirely possible we shouldn’t be able to progress rapidly up to the pace and achieve good results.”

To achieve that goal hiring has been in top gear, with personnel now at more than 400 and intended to attain the objective of 600 swiftly. Alongside their present headquarters at the Silverstone circuit, the team are in the midst of finishing an headquarters at Fishers, Indiana in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM works in North Carolina, where they are developing the facility to build the new engine, set for the 2029 season – until then they will run Ferrari power units – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a sophisticated organization, different from the trend in the sport for greater centralisation, and has inspired the innovative team culture to which the CTO alluded.

Apollo Model

“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo project,” remarked Lowdon just before the British GP in July. “We’re realistic, we know how challenging it is. The timelines, they’re super, super, super short. Well, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it feels like it sometimes.”

So they have embraced, rather than the usual hierarchical system, a non-hierarchical approach comparable to that of NASA's, where there were a variety of Apollo teams all focusing on distinct elements of the program across a different facilities.

“When you must follow a procedure where an issue arises and they raise it up to their manager, that manager communicates with a leader at a different location, it is relayed back, it’s super slow,” explains Chester. “Therefore we enable team members to take charge. Moving away from hierarchical consent for each action is much smoother and faster.”

What Lies Ahead

The effectiveness of this agile approach will be tested in the pressure of racing next season and there is a considerable amount on the line for F1, too. Cadillac have signed as their reserve driver the young American Colton Herta