Cadillac, ambitious: This is what they want from their drivers

Before Graeme Lowdon answers the first question, he seems to apologise. For months there had been media requests, all had to be turned down by the British team boss of Cadillac Formula One Team. "We've not always been able to be in a position to communicate," said Lowdon, former F1 team boss at Virgin and Marussia.

Indeed, with virtual radio silence, Lowdon and his people worked on getting Formula One's approval to join the championship. Last week, the green light finally arrived.

From 2026, American Cadillac will be the 11th team on the grid; an team backed by one of the world's biggest car manufacturers, who is absolutely serious about growing into an absolute powerhouse in a sport recently embraced by the American people. "This is not putting a sticker [on a car]," Lowdon says, indicating the commitment of General Motors - Cadillac's parent company.

Cadillac puts full bet on Formula 1

Extraordinary amounts of money have already been put into the project, by Cadillac and partner company TWG. Thanks to the investments, the new F1 team is busy building a state-of-the-art facility in Indianapolis, where its headquarters are located, while work on the 2026 cars is also underway from Charlotte, Silverstone and Cologne. In fact, the first chassis will already be built in a fortnight, with which the required crash tests will be done.

One of the next steps is going to be finding the right driver pairing for the American team's debut year in F1. "We definitely select on merit," Lowdon said regarding the matter after a question from GPblog. "Formula One is not a playground. This is the pinnacle of world motorsport. So, for sure, we need to select drivers on merit. Fortunately for us, there are many good drivers. Now, luckily for us, there are a lot of good drivers out there. Unfortunately, we've not been able to be in the driver market until the entry is confirmed, so it's a little bit too early to go too much into any detail."

The British team boss then addressed a frequently asked question: Will there really be an American racing for the team? "Personally, I see no reason why an American driver can't be selected on merit, as well, so it's certainly something I think that the fans would like to see. and I see no reason why that can't happen. But the overriding objective is merit. We've got a job to do here," referring to winning races and championships.

Herta, Zhou or Perez?

Lowdon makes no secret of the fact that Colton Herta is one of the Americans viewed as a candidate for one of the two seats. The IndyCar driver does not currently hold a Formula 1 superlicence. Should he not score enough points to race in F1, Cadillac says it will accept those rules and look further.

Another candidate for a seat is Guanyu Zhou, the Chinese who raced for Sauber last season. Lowdon was the Chinese's manager. The team boss states that he sees no problem with possibly having a Chinese at an American team. "I think Zhou has done an exceptionally good job under difficult circumstances," he says. "I've had a front row seat, to see all that."

Zhou, as well as Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez; have been linked to Cadillac. Lowdon admits his phone has been ringing off the hook lately from managers trying to bring their driver to the American team. "There are [drivers] with extremely good credentials to be in Formula One," he said.