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Just over one year ago at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately awarded the green light as F1's newest entry for the 2026 season. Building the team from the ground up has involved a frenetic pace of work that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo moon landing. As Formula One arrives on Las Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac are aware the deadline is approaching.

The Tight Timeline to Melbourne

At the last event of the season to be staged in the US, with approximately 100 days to go before they hit the circuit for the maiden outing in Melbourne at the first race of 2026, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a monumental endeavor, they are cognizant there will never be adequate time.

The CTO, Nick Chester, became part of the newly formed team in the spring of 2023 not long after it was established, when the organization were without even an official entry. He has been at its core since then and enjoys a wry smile when reflecting on the experience.

“You might get a brief moment reflecting at what the team has achieved and think: ‘Incredible, what an achievement what the team has created in under three years,’” he notes. “Then the following moment you realize: ‘Yes, we still have a great deal to do.’”

A One-of-a-Kind Opportunity

Nick Chester achieved victories at the Renault team in Fernando Alonso’s title-winning campaigns of the mid-2000s and was in command of engineering strategy at the recently formed Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but no previous experience has truly matched the task of bringing the iconic American Cadillac brand, a works entry supported by the parent company, General Motors, into the pinnacle of motorsport.

“Building an grand prix team from the ground up, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he observes. “There's nothing comparable. In an existing team you rarely get the chance to change organizational mindset.”

With each day that passes minds are more focused on the looming decisive point in Australia and targets are being set realistically.

“It's reasonable to expect that a brand-new squad joining the grid is going to be last but merely participating will be an feat in itself,” Graeme Lowdon commented this year and while Nick Chester shared this view he felt the organization had a point to prove as well.

“The initial objective we aim to demonstrate is that we should be there,” he emphasizes. “So that we turn up and we operate well. We want to show that we are a serious contender executing the right things on the circuit. After we prove that we’re really credible, then we aim to demonstrate improvement after that.”

Driver Lineup and Team Building Push

In August they recruited Sergio Pérez and Bottas as their racers for 2026, a tandem notable for their priceless expertise in performing at the front in two top-tier teams, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes, and the Finnish driver reflected the attitude of determined optimism.

“Certainly, we are pragmatic,” he commented. “We face a mountain of work to do, and we expect almost certainly a difficult start, because this is Formula One. But we aren't joining to finish last. In my view with this structure, with these individuals, these people, there’s no reason why we can't manage to progress rapidly to the front and achieve good results.”

To realize that ambition hiring has been in full swing, with staff now at more than 400 and intended to attain the goal of 600 members quickly. In addition to their present headquarters at the UK base, the team are in the phase of finishing an HQ at Fishers, Indiana in Indy and there is the GM works in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are constructing the facility to build the new engine, scheduled for 2029 – until then they will operate with power from Ferrari – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany. It is a complex organization, different from the direction in the sport for greater centralisation, and has led to the fresh organizational mindset to which the CTO referred to.

Apollo Model

“We've drawn heavily from the NASA moon mission,” said Lowdon just before the British Grand Prix in July. “We’re realistic, we understand how challenging it is. The deadlines, are incredibly tight. OK, it's not a space expedition, but it feels like it sometimes.”

So they have implemented, rather than the usual hierarchical system, a flat management structure akin to that of Nasa’s, where there were a assortment of project teams all tackling distinct elements of the program across a variety of locations.

“In a system where you follow a process where a challenge emerges and they raise it up to their supervisor, that supervisor communicates with a supervisor at a different location, it goes back down the chain, it becomes inefficient,” notes Chester. “We give authority to people to take charge. Avoiding managerial sign-off for each action is so much cleaner and quicker.”

Upcoming Challenges

The success of this agile approach will be evaluated in the heat of competition in 2026 and there is no little amount on the line for Formula One, too. Cadillac have recruited as their development driver the young American Colton Herta