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A little more than a full year in the past at the Nevada Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally awarded the go-ahead as Formula One’s latest entrant for the 2026 season. Building the squad from nothing has involved a hectic work rate that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo moon landing. As Formula One arrives on the Vegas strip this weekend, the team know time is getting tight.

The Countdown to Australia

At the last event of the season to be hosted in the United States, with just over 100 days to go before they hit the circuit for the maiden outing in Australia at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a never-ending endeavor, they are aware there will never be adequate time.

The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, came aboard the newly formed operation in March 2023 not long after it was established, when the squad were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its core since then and enjoys a knowing grin when thinking about the ride.

“There might be a brief moment thinking back at what the team has achieved and say: ‘Wow, what an achievement what the team has created in a short three-year period,’” he says. “But then the next minute you think: ‘Yeah, there is still quite a lot to do.’”

An Unprecedented Opportunity

The CTO had success at the Renault team in the driver Fernando Alonso's title-winning campaigns of 2005/2006 and was in command of technical development at the new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no other project has been quite like the challenge of launching the quintessentially American Cadillac marque, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the parent company, General Motors Corporation, into Formula One.

“Creating 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 established team you won't have the possibility to transform cultural approach.”

With each passing day that elapses thoughts are sharper on the impending critical moment in Melbourne and expectations are being handled.

“One must presume that any incoming team coming in is probably going to finish last but just making it to the starting line will be an achievement in itself,” Lowdon commented recently and while Nick Chester shared this view he thought the team had a statement to make as well.

“Our primary goal we intend to prove is that we should be there,” he emphasizes. “In order that we arrive and we perform competently. We want to show that we are a serious contender performing the correct procedures on the circuit. Once we prove that we’re really credible, then we want to show improvement subsequently.”

Driver Lineup and Recruitment Effort

In August they contracted Checo Pérez and Valtteri as their racers for the 2026 season, a pair remarkable for their priceless expertise in operating at the front in two top-tier teams, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes, and Valtteri Bottas expressed the mood of fighting spirit.

“Naturally, we’re realistic,” he commented. “We have a huge amount of work to do, and it will likely be most likely a difficult start, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we aren't joining to finish last. I am confident given this organization, with this team, these people, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to get relatively quickly to the front and achieve good results.”

To achieve that goal recruitment has been in full swing, with staff now up to more than 400 and intended to hit the goal of 600 swiftly. In addition to their existing facility at Silverstone, the squad are in the phase of building an HQ at Fishers in Indy and there is the GM works in North Carolina, where they are developing the center to produce the new engine, scheduled for 2029 – until then they will operate with Ferrari power units – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a intricate organization, at odds with the trend in the sport for greater centralisation, and has inspired the new cultural approach to which Nick Chester alluded.

Space Mission Inspiration

“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo program,” said the team principal just before the British Grand Prix in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we know how difficult it is. The schedules, they’re super, super, super short. Well, it's not a space expedition, but it can seem that way.”

So they have adopted, instead of the conventional chain of command, a non-hierarchical approach comparable to that of Nasa’s, where there were a range of Apollo teams all tackling distinct elements of the project at a different facilities.

“When you must follow a process where someone has a problem and they raise it up to their manager, that manager communicates with a leader somewhere else, it travels back down, it becomes inefficient,” explains Nick Chester. “So we empower staff to handle things directly. Moving away from management approval for all decisions is much smoother and quicker.”

The Future

The success of this nimble strategy will be proven in the pressure of racing in 2026 and there is a significant degree on the line for F1, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their development driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta