Inside sources reveal Sergio \u201cCheco\u201d Perez and Valtteri Bottas are set to end their short-lived sabbaticals from full-time driving \u2013 both of whom were apparently courted as potential replacements for Franco Colapinto at Alpine before being offered contracts by the incoming eleventh team. <\/p>\n
Bar the now-retired Daniel Ricciardo<\/a>, this is perhaps the greatest possible partnership the nascent race outfit could have hoped to wrangle.<\/p>\n 16 race wins, 106 podiums, 23 pole positions, and 3,435 career points between them aside, both Perez and Bottas notably come from major championship-winning dynasties: Red Bull Racing and Mercedes F1. The crucial insights attached to their pedigree will no doubt be invaluable for a fresh grid entrant.<\/p>\n RELATED: Apple Moves To Overtake ESPN As Formula 1 Broadcaster In US, Opens Door For Global Streaming Rights<\/a><\/p>\n And who knows what feats they\u2019ll be able to pull off now that neither is being forced to play second-string to generational motorsport talents protected by an additional layer of team orders? Especially in the case of a vindicated Perez, whose Red Bull successors in Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda have only proven the issue is the Verstappen-centric car.<\/p>\n Well over US$30 million in annual sponsorship money<\/a> certainly can\u2019t hurt, either.<\/p>\n While the pilots have yet to be formally announced (this line-up is expected to be confirmed ahead of the Dutch Grand Prix), we know the car will use a Ferrari-produced power unit until GM\/Cadillac develops its own engine by the end of the decade (on the path to becoming a full-works team).<\/p>\n \u201cAs the pinnacle of motorsports, F1 demands boundary-pushing innovation and excellence,\u201d said GM President Mark Reuss.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s an honour for General Motors and Cadillac to join the world\u2019s premier racing series, and we\u2019re committed to competing with passion and integrity to elevate the sport for race fans around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a global stage for us to demonstrate GM\u2019s engineering expertise and technology leadership at an entirely new level.\u201d<\/p>\n RELATED: In 2018, Lawrence Stroll Bought The Team For $117 Million \u2013 Now Aston Martin F1 Is Worth $3.2 Billion<\/a><\/p>\n Mario Andretti \u2013 the 1978 Formula 1 champion and key figure in the earlier bids<\/a> to enter an eleventh team \u2013 is also understood to be serving as an ambassadorial director on GM\/Cadillac\u2019s board. In a statement separate from Formula 1\u2019s initial press statement, he expressed the following:<\/p>\n \u201cMy first love was Formula 1 and now \u2013 70 years later \u2013 the F1 paddock is still my happy place. I\u2019m absolutely thrilled with Cadillac, Formula 1, Mark Walter, and Dan Towriss. To still be involved at this stage of my life\u2026 I have to pinch myself to make sure I\u2019m not dreaming.\u201d<\/p>\n Additionally, Cadillac retains the \u201cexperienced team\u201d it assembled during the last bid to work on aerodynamics, chassis, and component development, as well as software and vehicle dynamics simulation. These specialists have operations dotted across the globe from Fishers, Indiana and Warren, Michigan to Silverstone, England.<\/p>\n It\u2019s like we said before: between all this, Audi\u2019s takeover of Sauber,\u00a0Ford\u2019s partnership with Red Bull Racing<\/a>,\u00a0Honda\u2019s full-scale return via Aston Martin<\/a>, and the forthcoming regulation updates\u2026 2026 promises to be interesting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Multiple reports indicate the Cadillac Formula 1 team have hired Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas as its inaugural…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":93614,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,817,813,816,3551,85,1512],"class_list":["post-93613","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-general-motors","tag-sports","tag-valtteri-bottas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93613","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=93613"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93613\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Sergio](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/SI202211130645_hires_jpeg_24bit_rgb.jpg\")