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Approximately twelve months in the past at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were at last awarded the official approval as the world of Formula One's most recent entry for the 2026 season. Building the squad from nothing has required a hectic work rate that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo program. As Formula One arrives on Las Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac are aware the deadline is approaching.

The Countdown to Australia

At the final race of the championship to be staged in the US, with approximately 100 days to go before they take to the track for the inaugural time in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a monumental task, they are conscious there will never be sufficient time.

The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, joined the nascent project in March 2023 shortly after it was formed, when the squad were without even an official entry. He has been at its core since then and enjoys a amused expression when considering the ride.

“You can have a brief moment reflecting at what the team has achieved and think: ‘Wow, how impressive what the team has created in less than three years,’” he says. “And then the next minute you realize: ‘Yeah, there is still a significant amount to do.’”

A One-of-a-Kind Challenge

Chester had success at Renault in the driver Fernando Alonso's victorious campaigns of 2005/2006 and was in control of technical development at the recently formed Mercedes electric racing team, but no other project has truly matched the challenge of launching the quintessentially American Cadillac name, a factory team supported by the parent company, GM, into F1.

“Establishing an F1 team from the ground up, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he observes. “It's unparalleled. In an existing team you won't have the opportunity to transform cultural approach.”

With each passing day that passes minds are more focused on the approaching critical moment in the Australian GP and expectations are being managed.

“One must presume that a brand-new squad joining the grid is going to be last but simply getting on to the grid will be an achievement in itself,” Graeme Lowdon stated earlier this year and while the CTO agreed with this sentiment he felt the squad had a point to prove as well.

“The initial objective we intend to prove is that we deserve to be there,” Chester explains. “So that we turn up and we operate well. We want to show that we’re a proper team performing the correct procedures on the circuit. When we’ve shown that we are a legitimate team, then we aim to demonstrate forward movement from there on.”

Driver Lineup and Recruitment Push

In August they contracted Sergio Pérez and Bottas as their racers for the 2026 season, a duo notable for their invaluable experience in performing at the front in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull and Mercedes, and Bottas echoed the mood of fighting spirit.

“Naturally, we have a realistic outlook,” he said. “We face a massive task to do, and we expect probably a difficult start, because this is Formula One. But our goal isn't to finish last. I am confident with this setup, with this team, these people, it's entirely possible we shouldn’t be able to advance swiftly to a competitive level and enjoy some success.”

To that end recruitment has been in top gear, with employees now at over 400 and planned to attain the goal of six hundred quickly. Complementing their present headquarters at the UK base, the organization are in the midst of finishing an main base at the Fishers location in Indianapolis and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, where they are constructing the facility to manufacture the 2029 engine, scheduled for 2029 – until then they will operate with Ferrari power units – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne. It is a sophisticated organization, different from the direction in the sport for more centralization, and has prompted the innovative team culture to which Chester referred.

Apollo Blueprint

“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo project,” said the team principal shortly before the British Grand Prix in mid-season. “We are pragmatic, we know how challenging it is. The timelines, are extremely compressed. OK, it's not a space expedition, but the pressure is comparable.”

So they have implemented, rather than the conventional chain of command, a decentralized management similar to that of NASA's, where there were a range of project teams all working on distinct elements of the mission at a variety of locations.

“In a system where you follow a protocol where someone has a problem and they raise it up to their team leader, that manager talks to a supervisor in another department, it goes back down the chain, it’s super slow,” explains Chester. “So we empower staff to handle things directly. Moving away from management approval for all decisions is so much cleaner and quicker.”

What Lies Ahead

The success of this nimble strategy will be evaluated in the heat of competition when the season begins and there is a considerable amount riding on this for the sport, too. Cadillac have recruited as their test driver the emerging American Colton Herta