American drivers Colton Herta and Jak Crawford are among the options for the incoming Cadillac F1 team in 2026
Now that Cadillac’s entry as the 11th Formula 1 team has officially been confirmed for the 2026 season, they can turn their attention to getting ready for the upcoming campaign.
Which includes building a car for the track, and hiring drivers to climb into that machine when the season begins.
Speaking with the Speed City podcast during the Japanese Grand Prix, Cadillac Team Principal Graeme Lowdon discussed how that process is playing out. Lowdon first noted that Cadillac had a bit of a late start to the driver transfer market, as the official approval from F1 did not arrive until the start of March.
That meant Cadillac had to basically sit out this past transfer cycle, which Lowdon described as a “big disadvantage” for the team.
“I think it was a big disadvantage that we weren’t able to participate in the last round of the driver market effectively because it wasn’t fair for us to do so when we didn’t have a confirmed entry,” described Lowdon. “You know we could for sure we could meet with drivers and talk to them, but without the entry confirmation, you can’t really play in that marketplace.
“And so that was a big disadvantage so we’re now out of sync with a lot of the teams because a lot of teams concluded arrangements then that span the introduction of new regulations [in 2026].”
However, Lowdon noted that there is a silver lining. The past driver transfer cycle saw some big names left without a seat, drivers like Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas, who could be an option for Cadillac if they want to sign drivers with race-winning experience on the F1 grid.
“But the upside is there’s a bunch of extremely good drivers out there who are all hungry to be either in F1 or back in F1 and so there’s no shortage of potential applicants and needless to say since the entry was confirmed my phone’s been sort of reasonably busy,” added Lowdon.
Asked by Chris Medland if Pérez and Bottas were on Cadillac’s shortlist, Lowdon indicated that the team has spoken to “probably seven or eight drivers” already, including Pérez and Bottas.
However, he stressed that any talks were very “preliminary.”
“We are either planning or have spoken to probably seven or eight drivers altogether I would guess,” said the Cadillac boss. “It’ll be no surprise that anybody who has got recent Formula 1 experience would be included in that list.
“But I would stress that at the moment any discussions are very preliminary. They are just really trying to get to know what people’s interest levels are, what their motivations are, and that kind of thing. So we’re certainly not in advanced discussions with any driver.”
The incoming Cadillac boss also stressed that despite getting a late start on the driver transfer market, they are in a very good position given the level of talent available.
“There’s a bunch of people with a lot of experience,” Lowdon added. “Not just turn-up-and-drive experienced, people who’ve been at championship-winning teams, or race-winning or whatever.
“But also people who are younger who’ve got experience as well, so that’s another angle. Also, promising drivers who haven’t yet had a grand prix experience but they’ve proven themselves in junior formula and junior categories as well.
“So considering we were not able to be active in that last driver market, we’re actually in a reasonably good position at the moment in terms of putting together a driver line-up for [2026].
“We’ve said a number of times the driver line-up selection will be on merit and I’m happy that all of the drivers that we’re having early discussions with are perfectly capable Formula 1 drivers and perfectly capable of leading a good professional team.”
When the Cadillac partnership was first announced, the notion of an All-American team, with American drivers, was stressed. Lowden indicated to Speed City that the team is keeping an eye on two American drivers often linked with a move to F1: Colton Herta and Jak Crawford. Herta currently drives in IndyCar for Andretti, while Crawford drives in F2, while serving as a reserve for Aston Martin F1.
“Colton’s obviously started the IndyCar season now. He was unlucky in the first race, I would say, drove very well and finished fourth in the last race,” said Lowdon.
“Obviously we’re very interested to see how Jak goes in Formula 2. The first round in Melbourne was a bit disrupted.
“As we’ve said before, I think everybody would expect a Formula 1 team to hire their drivers on merit and that’s what we’ll do. But as we often have said before there’s nothing meaning that we would have one or more drivers from the US at some stage,” added the Cadillac boss.
The driver transfer market often dominates the discussion in the paddock, and with two open seats already available at Cadillac, this will be a huge talking point into the summer.
