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Just over a full year ago at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were ultimately given the green light as F1's latest entrant for 2026. Constructing the squad from the ground up has involved a hectic work rate that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has likened to the Apollo program. As F1 descends on Vegas this race weekend, Cadillac know the deadline is approaching.

The Tight Timeline to Melbourne

At the season finale of the championship to be held in the United States, 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 made significant progress but, in what must seem like a never-ending task, they are aware there will not be sufficient time.

The CTO, Nick Chester, became part of the newly formed team in the spring of 2023 shortly after it was created, when the squad were without even an official entry. He has been at its center since then and enjoys a knowing grin when considering the journey.

“You can have five minutes reflecting at what you have accomplished and think: ‘Wow, what an achievement what we have built in less than three years,’” Chester states. “And then the next minute you consider: ‘Yeah, there is still a great deal to do.’”

A One-of-a-Kind Opportunity

Chester had success at the Renault team in Alonso's championship-winning seasons of 2005/2006 and was in command of technical development at the then-new Mercedes Formula E team, but no previous experience has been quite like the task of launching the iconic American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry sponsored by the owner, GM, into Formula One.

“Creating an grand prix team from nothing, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he says. “It is like nothing else. In an existing team you rarely get the chance to transform organizational mindset.”

With every day that passes minds are sharper on the looming moment of truth in Melbourne and expectations are being handled.

“You have to assume that any incoming team entering the sport is likely to start at the back but just making it to the starting line will be an achievement in itself,” the team principal noted earlier this year and while Nick Chester echoed this he felt the team had a point to prove as well.

“The initial objective we want to show is that we should be there,” Chester explains. “In order that we show up and we function efficiently. We want to show that we are a serious contender performing the correct procedures on the track. After we have demonstrated that our credentials are solid, then we want to show forward movement from there on.”

Driver Lineup and Team Building Drive

In August they recruited Sergio Pérez and Bottas as their pilots for 2026, a duo notable for their invaluable experience in operating at the leading positions in two championship-winning squads, the Red Bull team and Mercedes, and the Finnish driver echoed the sentiment of determined optimism.

“Certainly, we’re realistic,” Bottas stated. “We have a huge amount of work to do, and it’s going to be almost certainly a challenging beginning, because it is F1. But we aren't joining to stay at the back. I am confident with this setup, with this group, these people, there is every reason that we shouldn’t be able to progress rapidly up to the pace and taste victory.”

To that end staff acquisition has been in full swing, with employees now reaching in excess of 400 and scheduled to attain the target of 600 swiftly. Complementing their existing facility at the Silverstone circuit, the squad are in the phase of building an HQ at Fishers, Indiana in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM works in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are constructing the facility to manufacture the 2029 engine, planned for 2029 – in the meantime they will run Ferrari engines – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne. It is a sophisticated organization, at odds with the movement in F1 for more centralization, and has prompted the innovative team culture to which Chester referred.

NASA Model

“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo program,” stated the team principal ahead of the British Grand Prix in the summer. “We have a clear-eyed view, we know how tough it is. The deadlines, they’re super, super, super short. Well, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it can seem that way.”

So they have adopted, instead of the conventional chain of command, a non-hierarchical approach comparable to that of Nasa’s, where there were a variety of Apollo teams all tackling distinct elements of the mission across a variety of locations.

“When you must follow a procedure where an issue arises and they escalate it to their supervisor, that leader talks to a supervisor at a different location, it goes back down the chain, it becomes inefficient,” notes Chester. “Therefore we enable staff to handle things directly. Eliminating management approval for each action is far more efficient and faster.”

The Future

The success of this agile strategy will be tested in the intensity of Grand Prix in 2026 and there is no little amount riding on this for F1, too. Cadillac have taken on as their reserve driver the emerging Californian Colton Herta