{"id":186116,"date":"2025-10-02T22:48:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T22:48:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/186116\/"},"modified":"2025-10-02T22:48:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T22:48:10","slug":"f1-news-cadillac-expands-f1-driver-line-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/186116\/","title":{"rendered":"F1 news: Cadillac expands F1 driver line-up"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Cadillac
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFormer IndyCar driver Simon Pagenaud has joined Cadillac as a simulator driver. Image: Joe Skibinski<\/p>\n

Former Team Penske IndyCar driver Simon Pagenaud has shifted his focus to coaching and simulator work following a serious concussion at Mid-Ohio in 2023.<\/p>\n

Based in Charlotte, North Carolina, he has supported former teammate Scott McLaughlin and contributed to both IndyCar and Cadillac F1 simulator testing for General Motors.<\/p>\n

\u201cOptimising the technical side of a car and managing relationships with the people in the factory has been my passion since I started racing,\u201d Pagenaud said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really enjoy talking with engineers, developing the simulator, and making it as realistic as possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis work gives me the feeling of being useful and contributing my expertise, something I had been missing a little since my accident.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy role and my goal are to make the simulator as close to reality as possible and to lay the foundations of the car. I want to help Cadillac project itself towards reality in the most accurate way possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cadillac F1 team principal Graeme Lowdon highlighted the importance of the simulator programme.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur work in the simulator in Charlotte is extremely important for building the team,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is crucial in many respects: consolidating our baseline performance and aerodynamic setups, allowing us to be race-ready during a grand prix weekend, validating systems and protocols, but also establishing clear and efficient communication channels between our bases in the United States, the United Kingdom and, ultimately, trackside.<\/p>\n

\u201cSimon has brought experience and energy to this process, and he has been a tremendous help.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joining Pagenaud are 30-year-old Charlie Eastwood, a Corvette factory GT3 driver, and 29-year-old Pietro Fittipaldi, who previously served as Haas\u2019 reserve driver and contested two grands prix in 2020 following Romain Grosjean\u2019s Bahrain crash.<\/p>\n

Fittipaldi confirmed his excitement on social media: \u201cOver the past few months, we\u2019ve been working together on the development of the team\u2019s 2026 F1 car through sim testing and full GP simulations. It\u2019s a privilege to be part of a brand as iconic as Cadillac.\u201d<\/p>\n

The additions strengthen a simulator programme that already includes test driver Colton Herta<\/a>, while the team\u2019s confirmed race line-up features multiple winners Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez<\/a>.<\/p>\n

2025 F1 Singapore Grand Prix \u2013 Schedule, how to watch, TV times & more<\/a><\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former IndyCar driver Simon Pagenaud has joined Cadillac as a simulator driver. Image: Joe Skibinski Former Team Penske…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":186117,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,62640,817,813,816,118727,118728,85],"class_list":["post-186116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cadillac-f1","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-pietro-fittipaldi","tag-simon-pagenaud","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=186116"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186116\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/186117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=186116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=186116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=186116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}