‘High-ranking’ Cadillac executives really wanted one brand-new driver over Valtteri Bottas or Sergio Perez

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Cadillac have confirmed that Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez will be their drivers for their first Formula 1 season. Around nine months since their entry was confirmed, they have settled on a vastly experienced line-up.

Bottas made his debut for Williams back in 2013 and has also raced for Mercedes and Sauber. Perez is a fellow alumnus of the Swiss team, who signed him in 2011, and his CV also includes stops at McLaren, Force India/Racing Point and Red Bull.

While both lost their seats at the end of last year, they represent known quantities with a level of F1 knowledge no other candidates possessed. Cadillac ultimately decided this would be most valuable as they prepare to begin at the back of the field.

Rookie drivers did come under consideration, but both Bottas and Perez signed for multiple years. As such, Cadillac are unlikely to field a young talent until 2028 at the earliest.

Colton Herta was blocked from joining Cadillac over superlicence issue

Initially, the consensus was that Cadillac would sign an American driver, likely alongside an F1 veteran. But rumours cooled over time.

Now, The Mirror have revealed that ‘high-ranking executives’ at Cadillac, based in the US, ‘really’ wanted to sign IndyCar driver Colton Herta. However, the move was blocked because he possesses insufficient superlicence points.

Herta nearly joined the Red Bull F1 programme in 2023, but the FIA denied him a proposed seat at AlphaTauri. They have refused to grant him an exemption for next year, either.

The Californian, a former McLaren test driver, has been racing full-time in IndyCar since 2019. He has won nine races in the series and finished runner-up last year, but has slipped to ninth in the 2025 standings.

The other American driver who held talks with Cadillac for 2026

“In the case of Colton, the superlicence points aren’t there,” Cadillac CEO Dan Towriss told The Race.

“But really, what it comes back to is experience in Formula 1 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 is really what’s most important.

“And so we certainly do think about it, 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, really what these drivers bring was the right combination for our team.”

• READ MORE: Colton Herta has already been ‘so impressive’ during test with 189-win F1 team amid Cadillac links

1978 world champion and team advisor Mario Andretti was a big advocate of Herta, but they couldn’t get around the regulatory roadblock. At 25, he may not get another chance to join the grid.

Cadillac also considered Jak Crawford, the Aston Martin junior who’s competing for the F2 title. He could be a driver who remains on their radar.