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Approximately one year ago at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally granted the go-ahead as Formula One’s newest entry for the 2026 season. Constructing the organization from the ground up has entailed a intense work rate that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo moon landing. As F1 arrives on the Vegas strip this race weekend, Cadillac are aware the deadline is approaching.

The Tight Timeline to Australia

At the final race of the season to be hosted in the America, with around a hundred days to go before they hit the circuit for the first time in Melbourne at the 2026 season opener, the Cadillac F1 project have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a monumental task, they are aware there will not be adequate time.

The CTO, Nick Chester, came aboard the nascent project in March 2023 shortly after it was established, when the squad were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its core from that point and has a amused expression when reflecting on the ride.

“You might get a short period thinking back at what you have accomplished and go: ‘Wow, how impressive what the team has created in a short three-year period,’” he notes. “But then the very next instant you think: ‘Yes, we still have quite a lot to do.’”

A One-of-a-Kind Opportunity

Nick Chester achieved victories at Renault in the driver Fernando Alonso's championship-winning seasons of 2005/2006 and was in command of technical direction at the new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but nothing has truly matched the challenge of introducing the all-American Cadillac marque, a works entry sponsored by the owner, General Motors Corporation, into the pinnacle of motorsport.

“Establishing an F1 team from nothing, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he observes. “It is like nothing else. In an existing team you won't have the chance to alter cultural approach.”

With each passing day that elapses focus are increasingly concentrated on the approaching critical moment in Australia and targets are being handled.

“One must presume that any incoming team joining the grid is likely to start at the back but merely participating will be an achievement in itself,” Lowdon noted recently and while Nick Chester agreed with this sentiment he believed the squad had a point to prove as well.

“Our primary goal we aim to demonstrate is that we deserve to be there,” Chester explains. “So we arrive and we perform competently. We seek to prove that we’re a proper team doing the correct procedures on the circuit. When we have demonstrated that we are a legitimate team, then we aim to demonstrate improvement subsequently.”

Pilot Selection and Hiring Push

In the summer they contracted Sergio Pérez and Valtteri as their racers for 2026, a duo remarkable for their priceless expertise in performing at the sharp end in two championship-winning squads, the Red Bull team and the Mercedes team, and the Finnish driver reflected the mood of determined optimism.

“Certainly, we’re realistic,” he said. “We face a massive task to do, and it will likely be almost certainly a challenging beginning, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we aren't joining to remain at the rear. I am confident given this organization, with this group, these personnel, it's entirely possible we won't be able to get relatively quickly to the front and achieve good results.”

To realize that ambition hiring has been in top gear, with employees now reaching over 400 and planned to attain the objective of 600 quickly. Complementing their current base at the UK base, the team are in the process of finishing an HQ at the Fishers location in Indianapolis and there is the GM plant in North Carolina, where they are building the center to manufacture the 2029 engine, set for the 2029 season – for now they will operate with Ferrari engines – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Germany. It is a sophisticated organization, contrary to the trend in Formula One for increased consolidation, and has led to the innovative team culture to which the CTO referred to.

NASA Blueprint

“It's closely based on the NASA moon mission,” stated Lowdon shortly before the British Grand Prix in mid-season. “We are pragmatic, we know how challenging it is. The schedules, they’re super, super, super short. Alright, it's not a space expedition, but it can seem that way.”

So they have implemented, as opposed to the conventional chain of command, a flat management structure similar to that of Nasa’s, where there were a range of project teams all working on different aspects of the mission at a multiple sites.

“When you must follow a procedure where a challenge emerges and they report it to their team leader, that leader consults a supervisor somewhere else, it travels back down, it’s super slow,” says the CTO. “Therefore we enable people to take charge. Moving away from management approval for all decisions is much smoother and more rapid.”

Upcoming Challenges

The efficacy of this nimble methodology will be evaluated in the intensity of Grand Prix next season and there is a significant degree at stake for the sport, too. Cadillac have recruited as their test driver the young American Colton Herta