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A little more than one year ago at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally given the green light as Formula One’s newest entry for the 2026 season. Establishing the squad from nothing has required a hectic operating tempo that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo moon landing. As the sport converges on Las Vegas this weekend, Cadillac understand the deadline is approaching.

The Race Against Time to Melbourne

At the final race of the season to be hosted in the America, with around 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 never-ending task, they are conscious there will not be adequate time.

The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, joined the nascent operation in March 2023 soon after it was created, when the team were without even an official entry. He has been at its core ever since and gets a wry smile when thinking about the experience.

“You can have a brief moment looking back at what the team has achieved and go: ‘Amazing, what an achievement what we have built in a short three-year period,’” he notes. “But then the next minute you think: ‘Yes, we’ve still got a significant amount to do.’”

A Unique Opportunity

The CTO achieved victories at Renault in Alonso's victorious years of 2005/2006 and was in charge of technical direction at the then-new Mercedes Formula E team, but no previous experience has been quite like the task of launching the iconic American Cadillac name, a works entry supported by the corporate entity, General Motors Corporation, 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 established team you won't have the opportunity to transform team culture.”

With every day that elapses minds are sharper on the looming moment of truth in Melbourne and targets are being set realistically.

“You have to assume that any incoming team coming in is going to be last but merely participating will be an achievement in itself,” the team principal commented this year and while Chester echoed this he thought the team had a point to prove as well.

“Our primary goal we aim to demonstrate is that we should be there,” Chester explains. “So we turn up and we perform competently. We aim to demonstrate that we’re a proper team executing the right things on the circuit. Once we’ve shown that we are a legitimate team, then we will focus on forward movement subsequently.”

Racing Talent and Recruitment Drive

In late summer they signed Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas as their drivers for the 2026 season, a duo distinguished for their priceless expertise in competing at the sharp end in two championship-winning squads, the Red Bull team and Mercedes, and Bottas reflected the mood of combative optimism.

“Of course, we’re realistic,” he commented. “There’s going to be a mountain of work to do, and we expect most likely a tough opening, because this is Formula One. But we aren't joining to remain at the rear. I believe given this organization, with this team, this staff, it's entirely possible we shouldn’t be able to advance swiftly to the front and enjoy some success.”

To realize that ambition hiring has been in overdrive, with employees now reaching more than 400 and planned to attain the goal of 600 swiftly. In addition to their current base at Silverstone, the team are in the phase of finishing an headquarters at Fishers, Indiana in Indianapolis and there is the GM works in North Carolina, where they are building the facility to manufacture the power unit, planned for the 2029 season – until then they will operate with Ferrari power units – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a sophisticated organization, at odds with the movement in the sport for more centralization, and has prompted the innovative team culture to which Chester referred to.

Apollo Inspiration

“It's closely based on the Apollo program,” stated Lowdon just before the Silverstone race in July. “We’re realistic, we know how tough it is. The timelines, they’re super, super, super short. Alright, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it can seem that way.”

So they have embraced, instead of the usual hierarchical system, a flat management structure similar to that of Nasa’s, where there were a variety of specialist groups all working on different aspects of the program in a multiple sites.

“In a system where you follow a protocol where a challenge emerges and they report it to their supervisor, that manager talks to a leader in another department, it goes back down the chain, the process is very slow,” says the CTO. “Therefore we enable people to take charge. Eliminating managerial sign-off for everything is much smoother and more rapid.”

What Lies Ahead

The efficacy of this flexible methodology will be evaluated in the pressure of racing when the season begins and there is a considerable amount at stake for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their reserve driver the emerging American Colton Herta