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Just over one year previously at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last awarded the official approval as F1's most recent entry for the 2026 season. Building the squad from nothing has entailed a hectic operating tempo that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the NASA lunar mission. As F1 arrives on the Vegas strip this race weekend, the team know time is getting tight.

The Countdown to Australia

At the last event of the season to be held in the America, with approximately 100 days to go before they hit the circuit for the inaugural time in Australia at the first race of 2026, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a never-ending endeavor, they are conscious there will not be sufficient time.

The technical director, Nick Chester, became part of the embryonic project in March 2023 not long after it was created, when the squad were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its core since then and enjoys a amused expression when thinking about the experience.

“You might get a brief moment thinking back at what the team has achieved and go: ‘Wow, what an achievement what the team has created in less than three years,’” he notes. “But then the very next instant you realize: ‘Yes, there is still a significant amount to do.’”

A One-of-a-Kind Opportunity

The CTO achieved victories at the Renault team in Alonso's victorious seasons of 2005/2006 and was in charge of technical development at the new Mercedes electric racing team, but no other project has quite compared with the mission of introducing the iconic American Cadillac marque, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the parent company, GM, into Formula One.

“Building an F1 team from nothing, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” Chester remarks. “There's nothing comparable. In an existing team you rarely get the possibility to change organizational mindset.”

With each day that passes focus are more focused on the looming moment of truth in Australia and targets are being managed.

“One must presume that any new team coming in is probably going to finish last but just making it to the starting line will be an feat in itself,” the team principal stated recently and while the CTO agreed with this sentiment he thought the squad had a reputation to build as well.

“The initial objective we aim to demonstrate is that we should be there,” he emphasizes. “So we turn up and we perform competently. We want to show that this is a professional operation performing the right things on the track. When we’ve shown that our credentials are solid, then we want to show forward movement subsequently.”

Driver Lineup and Recruitment Push

In late summer they recruited Sergio Pérez and Valtteri as their drivers for 2026, a pair distinguished for their invaluable experience in competing at the leading positions in two championship-winning squads, the Red Bull team and the Mercedes team, and Valtteri Bottas reflected the attitude of combative optimism.

“Certainly, we are pragmatic,” he said. “We face a mountain of work to do, and it will likely be almost certainly a difficult start, because this is Formula One. But we aren't joining to remain at the rear. I believe with this setup, with this team, these people, it's entirely possible we shouldn’t be able to advance swiftly to the front and taste victory.”

To achieve that goal recruitment has been in top gear, with employees now at over 400 and planned to reach the objective of 600 members rapidly. Alongside their existing facility at the Silverstone circuit, the organization are in the phase of completing an main base at Fishers in Indianapolis and there is the GM works in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are constructing the plant to produce the new engine, planned for 2029 – for now they will run power from Ferrari – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a complex organisation, contrary to the movement in F1 for increased consolidation, and has prompted the fresh organizational mindset to which Nick Chester alluded.

Apollo Blueprint

“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo program,” remarked Lowdon ahead of the British Grand Prix in July. “We are pragmatic, we recognize how difficult it is. The schedules, are incredibly tight. OK, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but the pressure is comparable.”

So they have embraced, rather than the usual hierarchical system, a non-hierarchical approach akin to that of the space agency's, where there were a variety of project teams all working on distinct elements of the program at a multiple sites.

“In a system where you follow a process where someone has a problem and they report it to their team leader, that manager talks to a manager in another department, it travels back down, the process is very slow,” notes Chester. “Therefore we enable people to really get on with it. Eliminating management approval for each action is far more efficient and faster.”

The Future

The effectiveness of this agile strategy will be proven in the intensity of Grand Prix in 2026 and there is no little amount riding on this for Formula One, too. The Cadillac team have taken on as their reserve driver the young Californian Colton Herta