Cadillac F1 team principal Graeme Lowdon has vowꦬed to choose his first driver li🥃ne-up on “merit” amid speculation that they want an American driver.

Last week, Cadillac’s entry to join the gri🅺d as F1 officially confirmed there will be an 11th team.

It’s been a l🍃ong wait for the American brand, which has been eyeing a spot on the grid for the past few years.

Iniꦇtially, under the Andretti guise, Cadillac will join the grid🦂 in 2026, backed by American car giant General Motors.

Lowdon, who was part of the Manor F1 Team in the early 2010s, spoke to media, including , on Monday afternoon to give an update ♏on Cadillac’s progress.

Lowdon also addressed the driver situation, with Cadillac yet t🥃o announce their line-up for next year.

He insisted that they will select drivers on “merit” ✱but conceded the𓆉y’re in a fortunate position with a “lot of good drivers out there”.

“We wil🐎l definitely select on merit,” Lowdon said on Monday. “F1 is not a playground. This is the pinnacle of world motorsportಌ so, for sure, we need to select drivers on merit.

“Luckily for us there are a lot of good drivers out there. Unfortunately, we’ve not been able to be in the driver market until the entry is confirmed, so it’s a little bit too early to go too much into any detail, because it’s only now that we’re able to have meaningful conversaꦉtions. But for sure we want to have drivers that can contribute to the overall programme.”

The American F1 driver question

It’s been widely speculated that Cadillac will want an American driver iꦉn one of their seats.

Their options are limited, though, with only Colton Herta the viable choice curr𝐆ently.

On the topic of an American driver, Lowdon said: “Personal🍷ly, I see no reason why an American driver can’t be selected on merit. It’s certainly something I think the fans would like to see and I see no reason why that can’t happen.”

“J🌺ust because someone’s American doesn’t mean that they can’t be a good Formula💖 1 driver. We’re not starting a team for the short-term.

“The partners have made this commitment into Formulꦫa 1 very much for the longer-term. We spoke fairly early on in the process about o⛄ur desire to also improve opportunities and the ability for the drivers to come through as well.

“We will be looking at somꦉe for𓄧m of academy programme. So looking forward, I see no reason why we won’t have American drivers in the team on merit.”

Herta is currently competing in IndyCar and nearly🀅 secured a drive with AlphaTauri - now Racing Bulls in 2023 - but didn’t have th𓃲e required super licence points.

Lowdon acknowledged that the super licence point⛦ situation could be a factor in Herta not get♒ting a drive again in F1.

“He doesn’t have the required number of super licence points and if that were to remain the case then that’s ﷽clearly an impediment for him. We can’t choose a driver that doesn’t have the points, that’s just the real world that we live in and we just have to take that into account,” Lowdon explained

“Does his lac🗹k of reaching this or lack of being at the threshold for the superlicence in any way affect his ability to drive a race car? No, he’s an incredibly talented driver and so, for sure, it’s not shock news that we would be looking to consider Colton alongside a whole bunch of other drivers as well.

“Certaဣinly he’s not the only one actually in that situation, and he won’t be the last, where there’s some uncertainty due to superlicence points, But we just have to live with that, that’s the regulation, we just have to respect it.”

Zhou linked addressed

Zhou Guanyu is one of a number of experienced options on the sidel🍰ines for 2026.

168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Valtteri Bottas is also available after failing to keep his seat at Sauber, while168澳洲5最新开奖结果: Sergio Perez, 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Kevin Magnussen and 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Daniel Ricciardo are all available.

Magnussen and Ric꧑ciardo are unlikely to want a return to the F1 grid in 2026, especially to a team likely to be at the back.

Lowdon spoke about Zhou, with whom he has close ties, given that the Chinese driver is 💦part of his management team.

Despite their prior relationship, Lowdon clarifi♏ed that there would be no favouritism” towards Zhou.

“Zhou has done an exceptionally good job under difficult circumstances over the last couple of years,” he added. “What makes it actually quite useful 🐭for me is he doesn’t necessarily need to explain the background of his abilities because I’ve had a front row seat ꦚto see all that, so that’s a benefit.

“There’s the correct checks and balances in place, so there𒐪’s no favouritism in any particular direction towards him or any other driver that we may have involvement with, as you know we’ve been involved with other drivers on the grid💛 as well.”

“We’re there to do a job so we’ll select drivers on merit. There’s some really good oꦓnes out there, Zhou included. Now we’re actually able to actually engage and see what the best driver line-up will be for the team.”