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Approximately a full year in the past at the Nevada Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally awarded the green light as Formula One’s latest entry for the 2026 season. Establishing the organization from the ground up has required a hectic work rate that the team boss, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo moon landing. As Formula One converges on the Vegas strip this race weekend, the team understand the deadline is approaching.

The Tight Timeline to Melbourne

At the final race of the campaign to be held in the US, with around three months to go before they make their debut for the first time in Australia at the first race of 2026, Cadillac have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a never-ending endeavor, they are cognizant there will never be sufficient time.

The technical director, Nick Chester, became part of the nascent project in March 2023 shortly after it was created, when the team were without even an official entry. He has been at its heart since then and has a wry smile when reflecting on the journey.

“You can have a brief moment reflecting at what you have accomplished and think: ‘Incredible, what an achievement what we’ve done in under three years,’” Chester states. “Then the very next instant you think: ‘Yeah, there is still quite a lot to do.’”

A Unique Challenge

The CTO had success at Renault in the driver Fernando Alonso's championship-winning seasons of the mid-2000s and was in command of technical development at the recently formed Mercedes Formula E team, but no other project has quite compared with the challenge of launching the all-American Cadillac marque, a factory team backed by the parent company, GM, into Formula One.

“Creating an Formula One team from nothing, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he says. “It's unparalleled. In an existing team you don’t get the chance to change organizational mindset.”

With every day that elapses minds are increasingly concentrated on the approaching moment of truth in Melbourne and expectations are being handled.

“It's reasonable to expect that any incoming team entering the sport is going to be last but just making it to the starting line will be an accomplishment in itself,” Graeme Lowdon stated this year and while the CTO echoed this he believed the squad had a reputation to build as well.

“The initial objective we want to show is that we deserve to be there,” he says. “So we show up and we operate well. We want to show that we are a serious contender doing the proper actions on the race track. When we have demonstrated that we’re really credible, then we aim to demonstrate improvement after that.”

Pilot Selection and Hiring Effort

In the summer they signed Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas as their pilots for the 2026 season, a duo distinguished for their vast knowledge in performing at the front in two top-tier teams, Red Bull and the Mercedes team, and the Finnish driver reflected the mood of fighting spirit.

“Of course, we have a realistic outlook,” he said. “We face a mountain of work to do, and we expect most likely a tough opening, because it's the top level of motorsport. But we aren't joining to stay at the back. I am confident with this structure, with this team, these people, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to advance swiftly to a competitive level and taste victory.”

To that end hiring has been in top gear, with staff now up to more than 400 and intended to attain the goal of 600 members swiftly. Alongside their current base at the Silverstone circuit, the team are in the phase of completing an main base at Fishers in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM works in Charlotte, where they are building the plant to build the 2029 engine, scheduled for the 2029 season – until then they will operate with power from Ferrari – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne. It is a sophisticated organisation, at odds with the trend in F1 for greater centralisation, and has led to the new cultural approach to which the CTO referred.

Space Mission Model

“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo project,” said Lowdon just before the British GP in mid-season. “We have a clear-eyed view, we understand how difficult it is. The timelines, are incredibly tight. Well, it's not a space expedition, but it can seem that way.”

So they have adopted, as opposed to the traditional management structure, a non-hierarchical approach similar to that of Nasa’s, where there were a range of Apollo teams all working on different aspects of the project across a variety of locations.

“When you must follow a procedure where an issue arises and they raise it up to their manager, that supervisor communicates with a supervisor in another department, it travels back down, it’s super slow,” notes the CTO. “So we empower people to handle things directly. Eliminating managerial sign-off for each action is so much cleaner and more rapid.”

What Lies Ahead

The success of this agile approach will be evaluated in the intensity of Grand Prix next season and there is no little amount at stake for the sport, too. Cadillac have signed as their development driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta