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Just over one year in the past at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally granted the green light as F1's newest participant for 2026. Building the organization from nothing has involved a hectic work rate that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the NASA lunar mission. As F1 converges on Vegas this race weekend, the team are aware the deadline is approaching.

The Race Against Time to Melbourne

At the final race of the campaign to be held in the United States, with approximately three months to go before they make their debut for the maiden outing in Melbourne at the 2026 opener, the Cadillac F1 project have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a never-ending challenge, they are conscious there will not be adequate time.

The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, became part of the newly formed project in the spring of 2023 soon after it was formed, when the squad were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its heart from that point and has a wry smile when thinking about the experience.

“You might get a brief moment looking back at what the team has achieved and say: ‘Wow, what an achievement what we’ve done in a short three-year period,’” Chester states. “And then the next minute you consider: ‘Well, there is still a significant amount to do.’”

A Unique Task

The CTO enjoyed success at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s victorious seasons of 2005 and 2006 and was in control of engineering strategy at the then-new Mercedes Formula E team, but nothing has truly matched the task of bringing the iconic American Cadillac name, a factory team sponsored by the corporate entity, General Motors, into the pinnacle of motorsport.

“Creating an F1 team from the ground up, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” Chester remarks. “It is like nothing else. In an well-set team you rarely get the opportunity to alter organizational mindset.”

With each day that elapses thoughts are sharper on the approaching critical moment in the Australian GP and targets are being managed.

“You have to assume that any incoming team entering the sport is likely to start at the back but simply getting on to the grid will be an feat in itself,” Lowdon stated earlier this year and while the CTO echoed this he felt the organization had a statement to make as well.

“The initial objective we intend to prove is that we deserve to be there,” he says. “So we show up and we function efficiently. We seek to prove that we are a serious contender performing the proper actions on the race track. When we have demonstrated that we are a legitimate team, then we want to show improvement after that.”

Racing Talent and Recruitment Drive

In the summer they contracted Sergio Perez and Valtteri as their pilots for 2026, a duo remarkable for their invaluable experience in operating at the front in two top-tier teams, Red Bull and Mercedes-AMG, and Bottas reflected the sentiment of determined optimism.

“Of course, we have a realistic outlook,” Bottas stated. “There’s going to be a mountain of work to do, and it’s going to be most likely a tough opening, because it is F1. But we aren't joining to remain at the rear. In my view with this setup, with this team, this staff, it's entirely possible we shouldn’t be able to get relatively quickly to the front and achieve good results.”

To that end staff acquisition has been in top gear, with staff now up to in excess of 400 and scheduled to reach the target of 600 members rapidly. Alongside their existing facility at the Silverstone circuit, the organization are in the phase of building an HQ at Fishers in Indianapolis and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, where they are building the center to produce the power unit, scheduled for 2029 – in the meantime they will operate with Ferrari power units – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a intricate organization, at odds with the direction in F1 for more centralization, and has inspired the innovative team culture to which Nick Chester referred to.

Space Mission Model

“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo project,” remarked Graeme Lowdon shortly before the Silverstone race in July. “We have a clear-eyed view, we recognize how tough it is. The schedules, are incredibly tight. OK, it's not a space expedition, but the pressure is comparable.”

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 project teams all tackling distinct elements of the project at a different facilities.

“In a system where you follow a process where someone has a problem and they escalate it to their manager, that leader communicates with a supervisor at a different location, it is relayed back, it’s super slow,” says the CTO. “So we empower team members to really get on with it. Eliminating management approval for each action is much smoother and faster.”

What Lies Ahead

The efficacy of this agile methodology will be tested in the intensity of Grand Prix when the season begins and there is a considerable amount at stake for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their reserve driver the young American Colton Herta