“Formula 1 is a global sport, but make no mistake, this is an American team, it will race under an American flag.”
Those were the words of Cadillac Formula 1 team principal Graeme Lowdon back in March, when the long-awaited 11th entry was finally approved and the newest team on the grid could finally talk with certainty.
It’s an identity that Cadillac is immensely proud of, but it is also extremely realistic about the challenges that it faces as it looks to compete with 10 established, high-performing F1 teams as quickly as possible.
Experience has won out when it comes to some of the key personnel within the team – on top of Lowdon, there’s executive engineering consultant Pat Symonds, chief operations officer Rob White and technical director Nick Chester – and now the same can be said when it comes to a driver line-up that doesn’t feature the American flag.
In Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez, Cadillac has secured a line-up that boasts a combined 527 grand prix starts and 16 victories between them. At the time of writing, only Ferrari (531 starts, 113 wins) and Aston Martin (594 starts, 32 wins) can claim to have higher totals in both categories, while only Red Bull (65 wins) and McLaren (17 wins) can be added to the list in terms of more race wins between its drivers.
But as an American team, it still finalizes the shift away from the original Andretti entry’s insistence there would be at least one American driver, as Colton Herta’s immediate chances faded without a guaranteed Super License, and other IndyCar names didn’t win out.
“I think in the case of Colton, the Super License points aren’t there,” TWG Motorsports and Cadillac F1 Team CEO Dan Towriss explains. “But I think really what it comes back to is experience in Formula 1 that carried the day.
“Despite the amount of experience that we have on the team, everybody’s new, everybody’s working together for the first time. And so we think that the experience that these two drivers bring are really what’s most important.
“We certainly do think about, and it’s important to us to make sure, there’s a pathway for an American driver into Formula 1, and we’ll be working on that. But I think for this inaugural season, for what the team needs, and really what these drivers bring, this was the right combination for our team.”
The make-up of the Cadillac F1 entry – with both TWG and GM backing – gives it plenty of links to North American motorsport. On top of IndyCar, there are IMSA and NASCAR associations, plus WEC programs, so there’s no shortage of driver knowledge. GM president Mark Reuss alludes to that being central in its acceptance that of those currently available, Bottas and Perez stood out to ensure the team’s early years are set on the right path.
“These two drivers are really important to us because this experience of podiums and wins between the two of them… is something that we value greatly because I know firsthand developing new vehicles and particularly in motorsports, the [importance of the] relationship of the driver to the technical team and the engineers,” Reuss says.
Perez brings experience, along with considerable motivation to prove that he still has unfinished business in F1. Mark Thompson/Getty Images
“With all the tools in which we have invested heavily in between TWG and General Motors – we have the tools, we have the people coming on board to develop these vehicles and now we have the drivers that have had vast experience on the circuits of Formula 1.
“So I think that’s a really important part of this and that feedback of the drivers that are experienced into the vehicle development itself is something that will, I think, be landmark in the history books here for Cadillac as it enters the big stage of Formula 1, which we’ve never done, obviously, and as a full works team.
“The commitment, the investment, the resources of people, and now the drivers is a really good, winning combination. So we feel very good about what we’re going to do here as we enter the grid in ’26.”
There are significant differences between the worlds of F1 and IndyCar, but what wasn’t brought up as a question from Cadillac’s point of view was the ability for an American driver currently in IndyCar to handle the switch. It was more a case of the current situation not providing an American option who could bring a guaranteed performance level above and beyond that of the hugely-experienced Bottas and Perez.
“I think that the cultures are certainly different, as we might expect internationally versus more North America/United States and IndyCar,” Reuss says. “But regardless, what I mentioned before is what really carries the day.
“I think the technical development of the team and the car and the powertrain with experienced people that have done these tracks, you can simulate and use tools up to a point, but it becomes very human in terms of their ability to stretch the limits of their ability with a car that they have confidence in.
“And the technical back and forth between the team and the driver is extraordinarily important, especially when we look at the experience they have and the winning records they have.”
Away from IndyCar names, Jak Crawford offers an American option who is closing in on a Super License and has ties to Aston Martin that have exposed him to F1’s 2026 rules, but he has yet to start a race. And, like Crawford, Bottas – who’s availability was known at the end of last year – has exposure to the new cars through his Mercedes role, which has kept him regularly in the paddock this year.
Perez was a different matter, having lost his Red Bull drive at the end of 2024 and not being signed elsewhere. But Cadillac saw the struggles of the second driver alongside Max Verstappen this year and had confidence the 35-year-old could rediscover his best form, particularly after meetings that answered any questions relating to Perez’s motivation.
Towriss insists it was a tough call between multiple drivers who were “hard to say no to”, regardless of nationality, but that the preferred pairing became clear after a process that involved multiple voices within the Cadillac set-up.
“Really there were a series of meetings within the team. Graeme had assembled a group of advisors – it would include people like Pat Symonds, and others with the team – and we started to assemble a kind of a dossier, if you will, of information around the drivers, looking at different combinations.
“And so it really wasn’t one particular meeting, because I think as time went on, things started to distill down to a unanimous decision from that standpoint.
“Mark and I had a lot of meetings, and really talking about Mark’s experience with drivers, GM’s history in motorsports, I would say was incredibly valuable. Understanding how General Motors looks at drivers for each of the programs across multiple series and not just how Formula 1 historically would look at that.
“So it was very interesting to put all that information and perspective together as it started to distill down to what that choice looked like.
“And then I think ultimately the final decision came down to conversations between Mark and myself, as we took the information that was provided, and the recommendations put forward, pressure-tested those a little bit more, and I think we both walked away again, and actually unanimously confirmed that these are the two guys, these are the two drivers to lead us into 2026.”
From an American driver perspective, attention now might turn to how any of the talents can be prepared by Cadillac to be in a better position to step into one of the race seats in future seasons. But for 2026, the chance to sign not one, but two, experienced, race-winners proved too appealing to turn down.
