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A little more than twelve months ago at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally awarded the go-ahead as F1's most recent entry for the 2026 season. Establishing the squad from nothing has entailed a frenetic pace of work that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the NASA lunar mission. As F1 converges on Vegas this weekend, Cadillac know time is getting tight.

The Tight Timeline to Melbourne

At the last event of the championship to be staged in the US, with approximately 100 days to go before they hit the circuit for the inaugural 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 sisyphean task, they are aware there will not be enough hours in the day.

The CTO, Nick Chester, came aboard the newly formed operation in March 2023 soon after it was created, when the squad were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its center ever since and enjoys a amused expression when considering the ride.

“You can have a brief moment thinking back at what you’ve done and go: ‘Wow, how impressive what we have built in less than three years,’” he notes. “And then the following moment you think: ‘Yeah, we’ve still got a significant amount to do.’”

An Unprecedented Challenge

Chester had success at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s championship-winning years of 2005 and 2006 and was in control of technical development at the new Mercedes electric racing team, but nothing has quite compared with the task of launching the all-American Cadillac brand, a factory team supported by the parent company, General Motors, into F1.

“Establishing an Formula One team from the ground up, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he observes. “There's nothing comparable. In an well-set team you don’t get the possibility to change team culture.”

With each day that passes focus are sharper on the approaching critical moment in Melbourne and expectations are being handled.

“You have to assume that any new team coming in is probably going to finish last but merely participating will be an feat in itself,” Graeme Lowdon commented recently and while Chester agreed with this sentiment he felt the squad had a point to prove as well.

“Our primary goal we aim to demonstrate is that we belong on the grid,” he emphasizes. “So that we arrive and we perform competently. We aim to demonstrate that we’re a proper team doing the correct procedures on the track. After we have demonstrated that we are a legitimate team, then we will focus on forward movement after that.”

Driver Lineup and Recruitment Push

In August they signed Sergio Perez and Valtteri as their drivers for 2026, a duo distinguished for their vast knowledge in performing at the sharp end in two top-tier teams, the Red Bull team and Mercedes-AMG, and the Finnish driver echoed the sentiment of fighting spirit.

“Naturally, we’re realistic,” he commented. “We face a huge amount of work to do, and we expect almost certainly a tough opening, because it is F1. But our goal isn't to remain at the rear. I am confident with this setup, with this group, these personnel, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to progress rapidly up to the pace and enjoy some success.”

To achieve that goal staff acquisition has been in full swing, with personnel now reaching over 400 and scheduled to reach the target of 600 members rapidly. Alongside their current base at Silverstone, the organization are in the phase of completing an HQ at the Fishers location in Indianapolis and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are constructing the facility to manufacture the new engine, set for 2029 – in the meantime they will use Ferrari power units – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a intricate organisation, contrary to the direction in F1 for increased consolidation, and has prompted the innovative team culture to which Chester referred.

Apollo Model

“It's closely based on the Apollo project,” remarked Graeme Lowdon ahead of the Silverstone race in mid-season. “We have a clear-eyed view, we understand how difficult it is. The deadlines, are extremely compressed. Alright, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it feels like it sometimes.”

So they have embraced, as opposed to the traditional management structure, a non-hierarchical approach comparable to that of NASA's, where there were a variety of project teams all tackling various components of the project at a multiple sites.

“If you have to go through a procedure where an issue arises and they raise it up to their manager, that supervisor consults a supervisor in another department, it goes back down the chain, it’s super slow,” says the CTO. “Therefore we enable team members to really get on with it. Moving away from managerial sign-off for all decisions is far more efficient and more rapid.”

The Future

The efficacy of this agile strategy will be tested in the intensity of Grand Prix in 2026 and there is no little amount at stake for F1, too. The Cadillac team have taken on as their test driver the young American Colton Herta