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Just over one year ago at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately granted the official approval as the world of Formula One's latest entry for 2026. Building the squad from nothing has required a frenetic pace of work that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the NASA lunar mission. As F1 descends on Vegas this race weekend, the team understand time is getting tight.

The Countdown to Melbourne

At the last event of the championship to be hosted in the America, with around 100 days to go before they make their debut for the maiden outing in Melbourne at the 2026 opener, the Cadillac F1 project have made significant progress but, in what must seem like a monumental endeavor, they are conscious there will never be adequate time.

The technical director, Nick Chester, became part of the nascent operation in the spring of 2023 shortly after it was formed, when the organization were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its center ever since and enjoys a knowing grin when considering the journey.

“There might be a short period looking back at what the team has achieved and go: ‘Amazing, how impressive what we’ve done in under three years,’” he notes. “But then the next minute you consider: ‘Yeah, we still have quite a lot to do.’”

A One-of-a-Kind Task

Nick Chester had success at the Renault team in Alonso's championship-winning seasons of 2005 and 2006 and was in control of technical development at the recently formed Mercedes-Benz Formula E team, but nothing has truly matched the challenge of introducing the iconic American Cadillac name, a factory team sponsored by the parent company, GM, into F1.

“Building an Formula One team from the ground up, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he observes. “It's unparalleled. In an well-set team you won't have the possibility to alter organizational mindset.”

With each passing day that passes thoughts are sharper on the impending decisive point in Melbourne and expectations are being handled.

“One must presume that any incoming team coming in is likely to start at the back but merely participating will be an feat in itself,” the team principal stated this year and while Chester shared this view he thought the squad had a point to prove as well.

“Our primary goal we aim to demonstrate is that we belong on the grid,” he emphasizes. “So that we show up and we function efficiently. We seek to prove that this is a professional operation executing the correct procedures on the race track. When we have demonstrated that we are a legitimate team, then we want to show progression after that.”

Driver Lineup and Team Building Effort

In late summer they contracted Checo Pérez and Valtteri as their racers for the 2026 season, a pair notable for their vast knowledge in performing at the sharp end in two championship-winning squads, 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 massive task to do, and we expect most likely a challenging beginning, because it's the top level of motorsport. But our goal isn't to stay at the back. I believe given this organization, with this group, these people, there’s no reason why we can't manage to progress rapidly to the front and enjoy some success.”

To realize that ambition staff acquisition has been in top gear, with employees now up to more than 400 and planned to attain the target of six hundred rapidly. Complementing their current base at the UK base, the team are in the midst of completing an main base at Fishers, Indiana in Indy and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, where they are building the plant to build the power unit, planned for the 2029 season – until then they will operate with power from Ferrari – and the Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne. It is a intricate organisation, contrary to the movement in F1 for increased consolidation, and has led to the fresh organizational mindset to which the CTO alluded.

NASA Blueprint

“It’s highly modelled on the Apollo project,” said the team principal ahead of the British Grand Prix in the summer. “We’re realistic, we know how tough it is. The schedules, they’re super, super, super short. Alright, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it can seem that way.”

So they have implemented, instead of the conventional chain of command, a flat management structure similar to that of NASA's, where there were a variety of project teams all tackling different aspects of the mission in a multiple sites.

“In a system where you follow a procedure where an issue arises and they escalate it to their supervisor, that supervisor talks to a leader somewhere else, it goes back down the chain, the process is very slow,” notes Chester. “We give authority to people to really get on with it. Avoiding hierarchical consent for each action is so much cleaner and faster.”

What Lies Ahead

The success of this flexible approach will be proven in the heat of competition next season and there is a considerable amount at stake for F1, too. Cadillac have signed as their reserve driver the emerging American Colton Herta