Cadillac's drivers line up confirmd for 2026
Cadillac Finally announces driver line up!
With Bottas and Perez Cadillac have chosen experience, with 500+ race starts, 100 podiums, 16 wins and 23 pole positions between the 2 veterans will for sure bring the necessary experience to help the new team get up to speed in an new era of Formula 1. Both coming from 2 of the biggest teams in the sport (Mercedes & Red Bull) were they run a tight ship and really only think about 1 thing, winning.
Sergio Perez has signed a contract up to 2027 with an option to extend based on performance, he him self has stated that this will be his “final project in F1”. Meanwhile Valtteri Bottas has stated that he sees this as a long term project knowing well that Rome wasn’t built in a day.
The contract
Both drivers will reportedly earn around 7.5 million a year, with extra add ons coming on top. Interestingly Perez has a special clause where if merchandise sales go over a certain threshold Perez will earn a portion of the additional earnings.
The best possible line up?
So has Cadillac really gotten the best possible line up for their inaugural f1 season, or is it a mistake to choose experience over younger talent?
Let’s take a look at the driver short list that was,
- Zhou Guanyu, The Ferrari reserve driver has showed glimpses of potential but in the end got outperformed by Bottas and brings overall less experience.
- Felipe Drugovich, Formula 2 champion and Aston martins reserve driver, was considered but seen as too inexperienced to start with a brand new team.
- Mick Schumacher, Mick currently racing in the world endurance championship was in talks with Cadillac but in the end wasn’t their dream candidate.
- Colton Herta, American with Andretti ties almost sounds to good to be true, well it was because he couldn’t get enough points for a super License (F1 license)
- Alex Palou (just rumours), the 28 year old IndyCar champ, who has been dominating this season, has confirmed there were no talks between him and Cadillac.
So in the end if you ask us Cadillac have chosen the right drivers to help them set a solid base for the future, both bringing experience, sponsorship money and insights from proven teams.
We’ll be looking forwards to see where Cadillac will be in 2026, meanwhile we will be keeping you up to date with the latest!