Cadillac’s Method 1 program is at full pace getting ready for the outfit’s debut season in 2026, the place it joins because the grid’s eleventh workforce.
The identification of its two drivers has but to be revealed. Actually, the workforce has mentioned naming its lineup is means down the road of priorities because it steams towards its first race, the Australian Grand Prix on March 8 subsequent 12 months, which follows 10 days of preseason checks throughout Barcelona and Bahrain.
With F1’s foolish season often exploding into life within the European summer time, the hypothesis about who might be racing for F1’s eleventh workforce goes to accentuate within the coming weeks. So who might be taking the 2 race seats for the Detroit marque?
What is the holdup?
Cadillac is in a comparatively relaxed place with regards to saying its drivers. With the workforce’s debut quick approaching, all consideration is concentrated on the automobile. The identification of these within the cockpit can wait.
As workforce boss Graeme Lowdon lately instructed the media throughout a tour of the workforce’s new manufacturing unit: “A superb remark, truly, from somebody strolling round once they noticed all of the stuff that was happening, it was, ‘I can see why the drivers is not the primary factor on the listing, as it’s at different groups, the place they’re coping with a special stage of what is already in place’. So, no, nothing’s determined but.”
However there’s greater elements at play as properly than merely constructing a workforce.
Lots of F1’s big-name drivers are locked down for a number of seasons of their present workforce. There’s additionally usually little to be gained by making early driver market choices. Say, for instance, a seismic shift occurred within the subsequent few months and Max Verstappen did determine to go away Pink Bull for Mercedes or Aston Martin — unlikely, however nonetheless a lingering rumor within the paddock — then the ripple impact could be big. Alpine, who will race with Mercedes energy in 2026, additionally seems set to have what might be a really interesting seat out there, with the workforce unconvinced by each Jack Doohan and Franco Colapinto.
The frontrunners
As Lowdon went on to say: “We all know who’s out there, we have got a good suggestion of what we’d like, however we’re nonetheless a way off reaching that stage. I feel there is a very sturdy argument to say {that a} new workforce in its first 12 months of racing would profit massively from people who find themselves skilled.”
Two drivers with professional race-winning expertise from inside a championship-winning workforce can be found, and look like the obvious and essentially the most desired candidates.
Sergio Pérez
Pérez has been on the sidelines since being pushed out at Pink Bull on the finish of final 12 months. The failure of each Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda to do any higher in that automobile this 12 months has helped there be a fast revisionism on how Pérez truly fared, though his 2023 and 2024 seasons have been extremely troublesome. It’s a identified reality within the paddock that being Verstappen’s teammate would possibly the hardest job of all of them, and Pérez’s repute has not been considerably broken to rule him out of a chance right here.
ESPN sources have mentioned Cadillac instantly reached out to Pérez as soon as his Pink Bull deal was reduce brief. He has been in no rush to commit, in a position to get pleasure from life away from racing for the primary time since he was a toddler, however then nor has the American workforce — and it’s understood Pérez stays prime of their listing. A a number of race winner and massively well-liked among the many Latin American fanbase, he would make plenty of sense for Cadillac’s maiden F1 season.
Valtteri Bottas
Valtteri Bottas received social media buzzing with a current publish the place he approached a parked Cadillac and mentioned, “Oh wow, that is truly a pleasant seat.” The cheeky, teasing publish prompt a supreme confidence in what he might be doing subsequent season, but it surely was classic Bottas. The publish was overwhelmingly properly obtained, demonstrating simply how well-liked the previous Mercedes driver stays among the many F1 fanbase.
Clearly, Bottas is a robust contender and ESPN understands talks have been happening for some time. Like Pérez, his pedigree is clear, with perception of the inside workings of the dynasty Mercedes workforce in his again pocket. Not like Pérez, Bottas was in a position to get pleasure from a renaissance after he stopped being the teammate of a world champion, with two sturdy seasons at Sauber. There isn’t any doubt the Cadillac curiosity is robust. Bottas is a confirmed commodity and nonetheless has a lot left within the tank to present one other workforce.
It is value noting that Cadillac may need their work reduce out if they need each Pérez and Bottas to steer the road. Flavio Briatore is known to have reached out to each about an Alpine seat. Beforehand Alpine has been a dangerous proposition, however it’s switching to Mercedes energy subsequent season, making it a really enticing proposition.
Different choices
Zhou Guanyu
Maybe a left-field choice, however Zhou’s identify has circled for some time. China’s first ever F1 driver had three seasons as Bottas’ teammate at Suber however by no means set the world alight throughout that point. Paddock consensus is he is an excellent driver, with an apparent upside: big marketability in Asia, which is one thing extremely precious to automobile producers.
Since leaving Sauber, Zhou has change into reserve and simulator driver for Ferrari, protecting him proper within the thick of the paddock in his absence. There’s one other good purpose he is within the body: Cadillac workforce boss Lowdon is his supervisor.
Yuki Tsunoda
It is exhausting to make sense of what Tsunoda does subsequent. His dream transfer to Pink Bull has become one thing of a nightmare because the Japanese Grand Prix as he is fallen sufferer to the identical points encountered by Pérez: the cruel measuring stick of being Verstappen’s teammate. Tsunoda’s shut hyperlinks to Honda — who gave Pink Bull an engine low cost for the ultimate 12 months of their partnership in alternate for his promotion — makes it unlikely he’ll keep on the former world champions past this season.
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Cadillac would seem like a sexy proposition; an escape from the Pink Bull program and a chance to get in on the bottom ground with a workforce set to be a totally fledged producer by the tip of the last decade. Sources have instructed ESPN that Tsunoda’s agent spoke with Cadillac on the Monaco Grand Prix; casual discussions had already been underway earlier than Tsunoda’s shock promotion in April, which briefly put issues on ice.
Are there any viable American or IndyCar candidates?
From the very starting, there was a transparent want to have an American driver fronting this outfit. Even when Michael Andretti was attempting to purchase Sauber a couple of years earlier than the plans for an eleventh workforce received off the bottom, it was clear IndyCar driver Colton Herta was central to his plans. Whereas Andretti has been sidelined within the Cadillac challenge, father Mario is on the board, and the dream situation could be to have a U.S. driver on the roster.
Reaching it will truly be troublesome. Herta is not any certainty; he wants to complete fourth within the championship this 12 months — or fifth, with two FP1 appearances — earlier than the tip of the F1 season as a way to have the tremendous license factors he must be eligible to compete subsequent 12 months. Earlier this 12 months he appeared to distance himself from the thought of shifting over to F1.
There is a left-field choice nearer to residence within the F1 orbit. Jak Crawford, born in Charlotte, North Carolina, is racing in Method 2 this season and might be granted a brilliant license if he finishes fifth or increased within the championship. An Aston Martin reserve drivers, Crawford would possibly current a dangerous choice as a rookie, however 2025 has demonstrated how F1-ready many younger drivers within the feeder sequence are once they make the step up. There isn’t any purpose to suppose he could not do the identical; he is proven flashes of actual promise in F2, the place he’s third within the championship, with wins in Monaco and Imola to his identify.
What about Ricciardo?
Daniel Ricciardo is maybe the elephant within the room whereas discussing Cadillac’s choices. The mega-popular Australian has not been again within the Method 1 paddock since he was unceremoniously kicked to the curb by Pink Bull after final 12 months’s Singapore Grand Prix. Ricciardo could be the most effective driver out there purely from a advertising perspective, and if he might rekindle the type of his first stint with Pink Bull then it might be a dream transfer.
There may be little indication that Ricciardo is determined to return to F1, although. Since leaving close to the tip of final season, he has grown a beard and seems to be having fun with downtime on his Perth farm — on prime of launching a brand new tailgate firm alongside his wine enterprise, DR3, and his Enchanté clothes vary. He appears comfortable to give attention to these ventures for the foreseeable.
At a New York pop-up occasion for his clothes line final 12 months, a fan filmed a selfie with Ricciardo and easily requested him, “Cadillac? Cadillac?” Ricciardo shook his head and simply replied, “Nah, I am finished.” That sentiment seems to be professional. Sources near Ricciardo have instructed ESPN that he has zero curiosity in returning to Method 1 and might be finished with motor racing for good.