Why Cadillac F1’s first line-up may not include an American driver

James Hinchliffe and Lawrence Barretto expect an American driver to join the Cadillac Formula 1 team in the future.

While the pair predict that the American team will opt for an experienced F1 driver line-up to begin with, they have argued that the likes of Colton Herta, Kyle Kirkwood and Jak Crawford could be options down the line.

Cadillac is set to join the F1 grid in 2026 with Graeme Lowdon as team principal. With less than six months to go until pre-season testing kicks off at the end of January, fans are eagerly waiting to find out which drivers the team will sign.

After putting their weight behind a driver line-up of Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas, Barretto and Hinchliffe discussed the possibility of an American driver for the team.

“It would be [a great story] and I think one day it will be. I think absolutely an American driver is the goal for this team, but also performing at the highest level has to be goal number one,” Hinchliffe explained to F1.com.

“And there’s no American driver yet that can jump in tomorrow and produce the same results as someone with that much F1 experience. But Colton had a very successful test with McLaren. He was being pursued by AlphaTauri. There’s clearly a talent there. You look at a guy like Kyle Kirkwood, who’s kind of been leading Colton Herta in the IndyCar Series. Both drivers are already under the TWG umbrella, so they’re sort of in the family.

“You’ve got Jak Crawford in F2. So there is a line-up of young Americans that have potential. It’s not going to be for 2026, but eventually I think we’re going to see an American in that seat.”

Graeme Lowdon, Cadillac F1 team principal

Photo by: Cadillac Communications

Barretto explained that while the team is unlikely to sign an American driver for 2026, it would be “intelligent” to aim for a reserve driver role with the team.

“And I think that is the point about this project,” Barretto commented. “We’ve talked about wanting or suggesting that Valtteri and Sergio are going to be in the team for next season and maybe a couple of years, but I think that’s why the other names we’ve talked about… it’s a long-term thing.

“So I think that in two or three years’ time, if Mick [Schumacher] doesn’t get the seat, for example, or Jak Crawford or Felipe Drugovich, joining the project for now as a reserve would still be a really intelligent thing to do because this team could be going places. They’re investing hard and who knows what’s going to happen in a year, two years.

“We’ve seen in Formula 1, you can’t complete a season for sure. So, it makes sense for these guys to join that operation even if they don’t get in from the very beginning.”