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A little more than one year previously at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were finally granted the go-ahead as Formula One’s most recent entry for the 2026 season. Establishing the squad from scratch has required a hectic operating tempo that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the NASA lunar mission. As Formula One arrives on Las Vegas this race weekend, the team know time is getting tight.

The Countdown to Australia

At the season finale of the season to be hosted in the US, with approximately a hundred days to go before they take to the track for the maiden outing in Melbourne at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a sisyphean endeavor, they are aware there will never be enough hours in the day.

The CTO, Nick Chester, came aboard the newly formed project in the spring of 2023 shortly after it was formed, when the squad were without even an official entry. He has been at its core ever since and has a knowing grin when considering the experience.

“You might get a brief moment reflecting at what you have accomplished and say: ‘Incredible, how impressive what we’ve done in less than three years,’” Chester states. “And then the very next instant you think: ‘Yes, there is still a significant amount to do.’”

An Unprecedented Challenge

Nick Chester achieved victories at the Renault team in Alonso's title-winning seasons of 2005/2006 and was in command of technical direction at the then-new Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but nothing has been quite like the task of introducing the all-American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the corporate entity, General Motors, into F1.

“Establishing an F1 team from the ground up, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he says. “There's nothing comparable. In an established team you rarely get the chance to change team culture.”

With each day that goes by thoughts are sharper on the impending moment of truth in the Australian GP and goals are being set realistically.

“One must presume that any new team joining the grid is likely to start at the back but merely participating will be an accomplishment in itself,” the team principal commented recently and while Nick Chester agreed with this sentiment he felt the organization had a point to prove as well.

“Our primary goal we intend to prove is that we deserve to be there,” he says. “So we show up and we perform competently. We seek to prove that we’re a proper team executing the right things on the circuit. Once we have demonstrated that our credentials are solid, then we aim to demonstrate forward movement from there on.”

Driver Lineup and Recruitment Push

In late summer they contracted Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas as their drivers for the 2026 season, a duo remarkable for their vast knowledge in operating at the front in two championship-winning squads, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes, and Valtteri Bottas reflected the attitude of fighting spirit.

“Of course, we’re realistic,” he said. “There’s going to be a mountain of work to do, and we expect most likely a challenging beginning, because this is Formula One. But we’re not there to stay at the back. I believe with this setup, with this team, these personnel, it's entirely possible we won't be able to progress rapidly to a competitive level and taste victory.”

To that end recruitment has been in top gear, with employees now up to in excess of 400 and planned to reach the target of six hundred quickly. In addition to their existing facility at the UK base, the squad are in the phase of completing an HQ at Fishers in the Indianapolis area and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are developing the facility to produce the new engine, planned for 2029 – in the meantime they will use Ferrari engines – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne. It is a intricate organisation, at odds with the movement in the sport for more centralization, and has prompted the fresh organizational mindset to which Chester referred.

NASA Model

“It's closely based on the NASA moon mission,” remarked the team principal just before the Silverstone race in July. “We are pragmatic, we understand how tough it is. The deadlines, are incredibly tight. Well, it's not a space expedition, but the pressure is comparable.”

So they have implemented, as opposed to the traditional management structure, a decentralized management akin to that of the space agency's, where there were a assortment of Apollo teams all tackling distinct elements of the mission in a multiple sites.

“In a system where you follow a process where a challenge emerges and they escalate it to their supervisor, that leader consults a supervisor in another department, it goes back down the chain, it’s super slow,” explains the CTO. “We give authority to staff to really get on with it. Avoiding managerial sign-off for each action is so much cleaner and quicker.”

What Lies Ahead

The efficacy of this flexible approach will be evaluated in the intensity of Grand Prix when the season begins and there is a significant degree riding on this for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their reserve driver the young Californian Colton Herta