F1: Who could be the drivers of the new Cadillac team?
For the first time since 2016, the Formula 1 will have more than 10 teams on the grid in 2026 and will be General Motors with your brand cadillac the one that gives two pilot seats to the Maximum Category, but who could those two lucky ones be?
A proudly American team, representing the automotive industry. USAshould, in principle, have at least one pilot from that country in its ranks.
Furthermore, as we know, the prestigious name Andretti, whose Global team is the main promoter of the famous team 11 in the F1.
Politics, ambition and bad blood between Liberty Media and the Andretti groupparticularly among Greg Maffei and Michael Andretti had stalled the process that most wanted to see materialize.
Maffei and Andretti left their positions as heads of Liberty Media and Andretti, respectively, and that unlocked the team’s entry into F1.
Now, and although there is a year left until Cadillac arrives in the paddock, names of drivers are already beginning to be considered, but who and why might have the best chance of joining the new team?
Although it is logical to think about all the American drivers who compete at a first level such as Indycar or in other categories such as WEC or Formulas 2, 3 and 4, even drivers of any nationality linked to the Andretti group or perhaps some veteran of F1 to help develop a car, the truth is that it is not yet known what parameters the brand and the team will use to choose their drivers.
If we go by what the legendary Mario Andretti said once it became official that the door was open for GM in F1, the combination must be a veteran and a young American.
“From our point of view, I think that at the beginning the game would be to have an experienced driver, whatever his nationality, and then a young American talent,” said the great Mario, who also mentioned Colton Hertapilot of his team in the indycar and who served as one of the reserve pilots of McLaren a couple of years ago.
Mario Andretti’s comment has a lot of substance, you need a driver who knows the tracks, F1 and who can help develop a car and it doesn’t matter what nationality he is, so there, the name of any driver available from Valtteri Bottas, Mick Schumacher, Kevin Magnussen or anyone who loses their job in the next year, of those currently on the Formula 1 grid may have a chance.
The names of possible Cadillac drivers
Colton Herta
Country of origin: USA
Age: 24 years
Bryan Herta’s son is an established driver in Indycar and at 24 years old he has 99 races, 9 wins and is the youngest winner in the history of the category.
Colton is also sponsored by the Gainbridge company, of which Dan Towriss is CEO, currently also head of the Cadillac F1 project.
Everything fits. Herta is from the United States, she is young, with experience, she has tried F1 with Alfa Romeo, McLaren and at the time AlphaTauri He was interested in adding him to his team, but he did not have enough points in the super license.
In 2024 he was Indycar runner-up and if he manages to keep the points, he could be Cadillac’s number one candidate.
Duck O’Ward
Country of origin: Mexico
Age: 25 years
The most popular Indycar driver and perhaps the most talented is Mexican, but with a great connection to the United States, where he has lived more than half of his life.
Although O’Ward is part of the McLaren Indycar team and a reserve for the F1 team, he is the driver in the American category with the greatest relationship, today, with the Great Circus.
Pato has participated in three practice sessions with McLaren in 2021, 2022 and 2024, the first two in Abu Dhabi and the third in Mexico City and perhaps he could participate in Winter training in Abu Dhabi in 2024, as he did in 2021.
O’Ward was Indy Lights champion in 2018 with the Andretti team, from whom he later left to look for better opportunities, but he could have a chance to be taken into account since the relationship between the Andrettis and Zak Brown, CEO of McLaren, It is very good and narrow.
The Monterrey native has won seven races in Indycar and has taken 26 podiums despite not having one of the top cars in the category.
Kyle Kirkwood
Country of origin: USA
Age: 26 years
Kyle Kirkwood is an Indycar driver who also competes for the Andretti team and has two wins in the series and was seventh overall in the 2024 season.
Jack Crawford
Country of origin: USA
Age: 19 years
Crawford, born in North Carolina, has forged his experience in series outside the United States, mainly European, with the clear objective of reaching F1. Currently, he is fifth in the F2 points classification.
Nacam Formula 4 (runner-up Asian Regional Formula, Middle East Regional Formula, Formula 3 and now Formula 2 form the curriculum of this young man, who has been linked to the development programs of Red Bull and Aston Martin, in addition to which is part of Andretti in his Formula E team.
Ugo Ugochukwu
Country of origin: USA
Age: 17 years
Born in NY to a Nigerian mother and Italian father, Ugochukwu has a very interesting background for his young age. He is a member of the McLaren development program, European karting champion, F4 runner-up with the Prema team with whom he will compete in 2025 in F3 as a teammate of the Mexican Noel León and the Frenchman Brandon Badoer.
What shines most on Ugo’s resume is his recent victory in the classic Macau F3 Grand Prix, which in the past propelled drivers such as Riccardo Patrese, Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher, David Coulthard and Ralf to fame. Schumacher.
In reality, names are thrown around with a certain logic, but we don’t know in a few months where the Argentines Franco Colapinto will be, who would be a great addition to any team, or Nicolás Varrone, LMGTE driver in the WEC for GM with Corvette.
even other graduates of the development categories such as a Gabriele Mini or whoever stands out in F2 in 2025, but today any American driver or not, who is linked in some way to Cadillac, Indycar, Andretti (where the British can be mentioned Jake Dennis) or the United States is likely to join a long list, which, until General Motors and Andretti say how they will select them, everything is speculation.
Will they do open tests among the pilots? Individual tests? Will they only be based on resumes and simulator tests? Or will they simply bet on what appears to be the fittest among those available? It is not known.
