Cadillac appear to be edging closer to deciding on their drivers for the 2026 Formula 1 season.
The American brand, fronted by General Motors, will become F1’s 11th team on the grid next season. Arriving in time for the new technical regulations, Cadillac will run with Ferrari engines for their first few years in the sport.
Aiming to become a works by the end of the decade, the team are looking to be successful in the pinnacle of motorsport. Their issue now is deciding who will be their first two drivers in 2026.
It has been long rumoured that Cadillac want an American driver to go alongside an experienced head as their first driver pairing. However, the issue of superlicense points is proving difficult for key targets such as Colton Herta.
Sergio Perez is set to race for Cadillac in 2026 after his sponsors have been in lengthy negotiations with the team over the past few months. Cadillac plan to speak to five potential signings at the Miami Grand Prix – one is understood to be ‘best positioned’ to join the team next season.
Zhou Guanyu is ‘best positioned’ to join Cadillac for the 2026 F1 season
Since leaving Sauber at the end of 2024, Zhou Guanyu has been eyeing an F1 return. The Chinese driver is serving as Ferrari’s reserve driver in 2025 to keep him somewhat sharp ahead of a possible return in 2026.
His Ferrari duties also give him a direct link to Cadillac, with the team supplying their engines in 2026. Furthermore, team principal Graeme Lowdon was part of Zhou’s management, making him a clear favourite.
Zhou’s ‘goal’ is to join Cadillac in 2026, and he appears to be in a good position to do just that. Journalist Pedro Fermin Flores says the 25-year-old and Perez are ‘best positioned’ to join Cadillac and sit at the top of their lengthy shortlist of drivers.
“I’m telling you, two drivers, not to be joking, what I’m saying, are on the list of candidates to take the official wheel of Cadillac next year,” he said via his YouTube channel.
“First driver, which doesn’t mean that it’s the first driver, Guanyu Zhou, and the other is Checo Perez. The two drivers currently best positioned to become official drivers are Checo Perez and Guanyu Zhou.
“They are the two who are at the top of the list right now. There has always been talk of an American driver. The problem is that not all of the American drivers have a superlicense.
“And it is true that there are intense negotiations so that another driver can be added to this Cadillac story and I’m talking about Pato O’Ward.
“Pato O’Ward remains on the shortlist to Cadillac. But the ones who have the most serious place at the moment, in that ’26 option, is Checo Perez and Zhou.”
READ MORE: Ferrari reserve driver Zhou Guanyu’s life outside F1 from height to net worth
Zhou Guanyu’s former Sauber teammate Valtteri Bottas is among others linked with Cadillac for 2026
It is hard to look past Perez and Zhou for the Cadillac seats next season. Both have experience in F1 and bring huge commercial value from their respective nations.
Zhou, who Frederic Vasseur once described as ‘remarkable’ for his performance in Austria in 2022 following his horror accident at Silverstone, will be looking for redemption in F1. The Chinese driver scored just 16 points with Sauber as he languished at the back for three seasons.
While Zhou and Perez look like the favourites to join Cadillac, they do have other options to consider. Valtteri Bottas has been linked with the team as he looks to find a way back onto the grid in 2026.
As Flores mentioned, Cadillac could sign Pato O’Ward from McLaren and bring him on board for next season. However, like Herta, superlicense points may prove to be a problem for the Mexican.
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