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A little more than one year in the past at the Vegas Grand Prix, the Cadillac racing team were ultimately granted the green light as Formula One’s latest entrant for the 2026 season. Establishing the squad from nothing has involved a hectic work rate that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo moon landing. As Formula One arrives on Vegas this weekend, Cadillac know time is getting tight.

The Countdown to Australia

At the final race of the championship to be hosted in the United States, with approximately 100 days to go before they hit the circuit for the first time in Melbourne at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a never-ending endeavor, they are aware there will never be adequate time.

The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, joined the newly formed operation in March 2023 soon after it was established, when the team were without even an approved entry. He has been at its core from that point and has a wry smile when reflecting on the ride.

“You might get a brief moment thinking back at what you have accomplished and say: ‘Amazing, how impressive what the team has created in less than three years,’” he says. “But then the very next instant you think: ‘Yeah, there is still quite a lot to do.’”

A Unique Opportunity

Nick Chester enjoyed success at the Renault team in the driver Fernando Alonso's championship-winning years of 2005/2006 and was in command of engineering strategy at the then-new Mercedes Formula E team, but no previous experience has quite compared with the mission of introducing the all-American Cadillac marque, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the owner, General Motors, into F1.

“Creating an grand prix team from nothing, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he observes. “It's unparalleled. In an established team you won't have the possibility to transform team culture.”

With each day that passes thoughts are sharper on the impending decisive point in the Australian GP and expectations are being set realistically.

“You have to assume that a brand-new squad coming in is probably going to finish last but merely participating will be an accomplishment in itself,” Graeme Lowdon commented recently and while Chester agreed with this sentiment he felt the team had a point to prove as well.

“Our primary goal we aim to demonstrate is that we belong on the grid,” Chester explains. “In order that we turn up and we perform competently. We want to show that this is a professional operation performing the correct procedures on the track. Once we’ve shown that we are a legitimate team, then we will focus on progression subsequently.”

Pilot Selection and Recruitment Effort

In the summer they recruited Checo Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their drivers for the 2026 season, a tandem notable for their priceless expertise in competing at the leading positions in two of the sport’s biggest teams, the Red Bull team and Mercedes-AMG, and Bottas expressed the attitude of fighting spirit.

“Of course, we have a realistic outlook,” he commented. “We face a massive task to do, and it’s going to be probably a difficult start, because this is Formula One. But we aren't joining to finish last. In my view given this organization, with this team, these personnel, there’s no reason why we won't be able to advance swiftly up to the pace and enjoy some success.”

To achieve that goal hiring has been in top gear, with personnel now up to more than 400 and planned to reach the goal of 600 swiftly. In addition to their existing facility at the UK base, the squad are in the process of finishing an headquarters at the Fishers location in the Indianapolis area and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, where they are developing the center to build the new engine, set for the 2029 season – in the meantime they will operate with power from Ferrari – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Germany. It is a sophisticated structure, contrary to the trend in Formula One for increased consolidation, and has prompted the new cultural approach to which Nick Chester referred.

NASA Inspiration

“It's closely based on the Apollo program,” remarked Graeme Lowdon ahead of the British GP in mid-season. “We are pragmatic, we understand how tough it is. The schedules, are extremely compressed. OK, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but it can seem that way.”

So they have embraced, rather than the conventional chain of command, a decentralized management akin to that of the space agency's, where there were a variety of Apollo teams all working on distinct elements of the mission at a different facilities.

“When you must follow a protocol where a challenge emerges and they escalate it to their supervisor, that leader consults a manager in another department, it is relayed back, the process is very slow,” notes Chester. “So we empower people to take charge. Moving away from hierarchical consent for all decisions is much smoother and faster.”

The Future

The efficacy of this nimble approach will be evaluated in the pressure of racing when the season begins and there is a significant degree at stake for Formula One, too. The Cadillac team have signed as their test driver the emerging American Colton Herta