{"id":24413,"date":"2025-07-26T05:33:08","date_gmt":"2025-07-26T05:33:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/24413\/"},"modified":"2025-07-26T05:33:08","modified_gmt":"2025-07-26T05:33:08","slug":"cadillac-have-finally-chosen-the-two-drivers-they-want-for-the-2026-formula-1-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/24413\/","title":{"rendered":"Cadillac have finally chosen the two drivers they want for the 2026 Formula 1 season"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Cadillac\u2019s driver search has taken longer than Formula 1 fans might have expected. The halfway point of the 2025 season has passed, and neither seat has been filled.<\/p>\n

The team are relaxed about the situation. Their priority is building a competitive car for their debut race in Melbourne next March.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s more, the rest of the Formula 1 driver market<\/a> is largely quiet. That means, for the most part, they don\u2019t have to worry about their candidates being snapped up by other teams.<\/p>\n

US basesCharlotte, Michigan, North CarolinaUK baseSilverstoneTeam principalGraeme LowdonTechnical directorNick ChesterEngineFerrariDriversTBAThe key details about the Cadillac F1 project<\/p>\n

Initially, the thinking was that Cadillac<\/a> wanted one experienced driver and one youngster, potentially an American. But they may now have ditched that blueprint.<\/p>\n

Cadillac choose Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas after lengthy driver search<\/p>\n

Speaking on F1TV\u2019s \u2018Weekend Warm-Up\u2019 show ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix, journalist Lawrence Barretto suggested that Cadillac are now intent on signing two veterans \u2013 Sergio Perez<\/a> and Valtteri Bottas<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Between them, they\u2019ve contested well over 500 Grands Prix, won 16 races and scored 106 podiums. Bottas is currently the reserve driver for Mercedes after losing his Sauber seat, while Perez is a free agent following his Red Bull pay-off at the end of last year.<\/p>\n

Barretto stresses that neither Perez nor Bottas have agreed on a contract, nor is an announcement thought to be imminent. But the direction of travel is clear.<\/p>\n

\"SergioPhoto by Jakub Porzycki\/NurPhoto via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Bottas has received an offer from Alpine<\/a> to replace the embattled Franco Colapinto. But he may use that as leverage to extract a better salary from F1\u2019s new arrival.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe more likely landing spot for him is Cadillac,\u201d Barretto said of Lewis Hamilton\u2019s former teammate. \u201cI hear that they haven\u2019t got any contracts done, not even any ahead of terms, but Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas are the two drivers that they want at that team.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just a case of them going through the motions with it. It might be some time until we find that out. Obviously, there is still some time for that to change, but that\u2019s where we\u2019re looking I think.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s where I think it\u2019s going, which makes sense because Valtteri could maybe use the Alpine interest to maybe get a better deal. They want experience, and those two drivers offer that in bags.\u201d<\/p>\n

Look away Sergio Perez \u2013 a big-name may be arriving from Red Bull<\/p>\n

For Bottas, this decision may be seen as a surprise. Alpine are an established team who will be racing with Mercedes power units \u2013 widely billed as the industry leaders \u2013 next year.<\/p>\n

However, there has also been chaos at Enstone of late, with multiple personnel changes inside and outside the garage. That may have put Bottas off. <\/p>\n

On Perez\u2019s side, Cadillac have offered him a lifeline. He\u2019s decided that he isn\u2019t finished with F1, refusing to let his ignominious Red Bull exit be his final chapter.<\/p>\n

Ironically, there are rumours that Cadillac are in talks with Christian Horner<\/a>, the very man who gave Perez a new deal before letting him go. That could make for an awkward reunion. <\/p>\n

If indeed Cadillac have made their decision, it\u2019s bad news for a whole host of drivers, including Mick Schumacher, Zhou Guanyu, Jack Doohan and Felipe Drugovich.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cadillac\u2019s driver search has taken longer than Formula 1 fans might have expected. The halfway point of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24414,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[7193,1687,372,11819,6537,6931,101,56,54,55,6930],"class_list":{"0":"post-24413","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-f1","8":"tag-cadillac","9":"tag-f1","10":"tag-formula-1","11":"tag-formula-1-driver-market","12":"tag-formula1","13":"tag-sergio-perez","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom","17":"tag-unitedkingdom","18":"tag-valtteri-bottas"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24413\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}