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Approximately one year ago at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally granted the go-ahead as the world of Formula One's latest entry for the 2026 season. Establishing the team from the ground up has entailed a frenetic pace of work that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo moon landing. As the sport descends on the Vegas strip this race weekend, the team know the clock is ticking.

The Countdown to Melbourne

At the last event of the campaign to be staged in the America, with approximately 100 days to go before they take to the track for the maiden outing in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a never-ending challenge, they are conscious there will not be sufficient time.

The technical director, Nick Chester, joined the embryonic operation in early 2023 shortly after it was created, when the organization were without even an official entry. He has been at its center from that point and enjoys a wry smile when thinking about the experience.

“You can have a short period thinking back at what you have accomplished and think: ‘Wow, how impressive what we’ve done in less than three years,’” he says. “But then the very next instant you consider: ‘Well, we’ve still got a significant amount to do.’”

A One-of-a-Kind Challenge

The CTO enjoyed success at Renault in Alonso's title-winning years of the mid-2000s and was in charge of technical direction at the new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but nothing has been quite like the challenge of launching the iconic American Cadillac name, a works entry supported by the owner, GM, into F1.

“Establishing an F1 team from the ground up, when will you ever have the possibility to do that?” he says. “There's nothing comparable. In an existing team you won't have the possibility to transform organizational mindset.”

With every day that elapses thoughts are increasingly concentrated on the approaching decisive point in Australia and expectations are being managed.

“You have to assume that any incoming team coming in is probably going to finish last but simply getting on to the grid will be an achievement in itself,” Graeme Lowdon noted earlier this year and while the CTO agreed with this sentiment he thought the squad had a statement to make as well.

“Our primary goal we aim to demonstrate is that we deserve to be there,” Chester explains. “In order that we arrive and we operate well. We aim to demonstrate that we’re a proper team performing the proper actions on the circuit. After we’ve shown that our credentials are solid, then we aim to demonstrate improvement after that.”

Pilot Selection and Hiring Effort

In late summer they signed Sergio Pérez and Bottas as their drivers for 2026, a duo remarkable for their priceless expertise in competing at the sharp end in two top-tier teams, Red Bull and Mercedes-AMG, and the Finnish driver echoed the sentiment of determined optimism.

“Naturally, we’re realistic,” he commented. “We face a huge amount of work to do, and it’s going to be probably a challenging beginning, because this is Formula One. But our goal isn't to finish last. In my view with this structure, with these individuals, this staff, there’s no reason why we can't manage to advance swiftly up to the pace and taste victory.”

To that end staff acquisition has been in full swing, with staff now up to over 400 and intended to hit the target of 600 swiftly. Complementing their present headquarters at Silverstone, the organization are in the midst of finishing an HQ at Fishers in Indy and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are building the facility to manufacture the 2029 engine, planned for the 2029 season – until then they will operate with power from Ferrari – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a intricate organization, contrary to the direction in the sport for increased consolidation, and has led to the fresh organizational mindset to which the CTO referred to.

NASA Blueprint

“It's closely based on the NASA moon mission,” remarked Lowdon ahead of the Silverstone race in mid-season. “We have a clear-eyed view, we understand how tough it is. The deadlines, are extremely compressed. Alright, it's not a space expedition, but the pressure is comparable.”

So they have adopted, instead of the conventional chain of command, a non-hierarchical approach similar to that of NASA's, where there were a variety of project teams all focusing on various components of the project at a different facilities.

“When you must follow a procedure where an issue arises and they report it to their supervisor, that supervisor consults a leader at a different location, it goes back down the chain, it’s super slow,” notes Chester. “Therefore we enable staff to really get on with it. Avoiding managerial sign-off for everything is so much cleaner and faster.”

Upcoming Challenges

The success of this flexible methodology will be tested in the pressure of racing when the season begins and there is a considerable amount riding on this for Formula One, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their development driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta