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Approximately one year in the past at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were ultimately given the green light as Formula One’s latest participant for 2026. Building the organization from nothing has required a hectic operating tempo that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo program. As F1 arrives on Las Vegas this weekend, the team understand time is getting tight.

The Countdown to Melbourne

At the season finale of the season to be staged in the America, with around three months to go before they make their debut for the inaugural time in Melbourne at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a never-ending task, they are cognizant there will never be adequate time.

The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, came aboard the nascent operation in early 2023 soon after it was created, when the organization were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its core ever since and has a amused expression when considering the journey.

“There might be a brief moment looking back at what you have accomplished and go: ‘Amazing, what an achievement what we have built in less than three years,’” Chester states. “And then the next minute you consider: ‘Yeah, we’ve still got quite a lot to do.’”

A Unique Opportunity

The CTO achieved victories at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s title-winning seasons of 2005/2006 and was in control of technical development at the new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no previous experience has truly matched the mission of bringing the all-American Cadillac name, a factory team supported by the corporate entity, General Motors, into Formula One.

“Establishing an grand prix team from scratch, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he says. “There's nothing comparable. In an established team you rarely get the possibility to alter cultural approach.”

With every day that elapses minds are more focused on the looming decisive point in the Australian GP and goals are being managed.

“One must presume that any incoming team coming in is likely to start at the back but merely participating will be an accomplishment in itself,” Lowdon commented this year and while Nick Chester shared this view he believed the squad had a point to prove as well.

“Our primary goal we aim to demonstrate is that we belong on the grid,” Chester explains. “So that we arrive and we operate well. We want to show that this is a professional operation performing the correct procedures on the track. Once we’ve shown that we are a legitimate team, then we will focus on forward movement subsequently.”

Racing Talent and Recruitment Push

In late summer they recruited Checo Pérez and Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a tandem notable for their vast knowledge in operating at the leading positions in two of the sport’s biggest teams, Red Bull and Mercedes-AMG, and Bottas expressed the attitude of combative optimism.

“Certainly, we’re realistic,” he commented. “We face a massive task to do, and it’s going to be most likely a difficult start, because this is Formula One. But we’re not there to stay at the back. I believe given this organization, with this group, this staff, there is every reason that we won't be able to progress rapidly to the front and achieve good results.”

To that end recruitment has been in full swing, with employees now up to more than 400 and scheduled to reach the target of 600 members quickly. Alongside their existing facility at Silverstone, the squad are in the phase of finishing an HQ at Fishers, Indiana in Indianapolis and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are constructing the plant to produce the new engine, set for 2029 – until then they will operate with Ferrari power units – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a sophisticated organization, at odds with the trend in Formula One for greater centralisation, and has led to the new cultural approach to which Nick Chester referred.

Apollo Inspiration

“It's closely based on the Apollo program,” said Lowdon shortly before the Silverstone race in July. “We’re realistic, we know how challenging it is. The timelines, are incredibly tight. Alright, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but it can seem that way.”

So they have implemented, as opposed to the usual hierarchical system, a non-hierarchical approach akin to that of Nasa’s, where there were a variety of specialist groups all focusing on distinct elements of the program across a multiple sites.

“If you have to go through a process where an issue arises and they escalate it to their supervisor, that leader consults a leader somewhere else, it goes back down the chain, it becomes inefficient,” explains the CTO. “We give authority to team members to take charge. Eliminating managerial sign-off for each action is much smoother and more rapid.”

The Future

The success of this flexible approach will be evaluated in the heat of competition in 2026 and there is no little amount riding on this for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their reserve driver the young American Colton Herta