The new Cadillac F1 team are “advancing discussions” with a “number of drivers” as they weigh up the line-up for their debut 2026 season, says team principal Graeme Lowdon.

Cadillac are joining the grid as the 11th team next season, with the project launched in partnership with American automotive giant General Motors and TWG Global, who also have interests in sporting entities including Chelsea and the Los Angeles Lakers.

The addition of two new seats on to the F1 grid from next year has, according to Lowdon, led to Cadillac being contacted by “a long list of very, very good drivers who are keen” since their entry was confirmed in March.

After losing their respective places on the grid at the end of last season, multiple race winners Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas are thought to be among the leading contenders, while former Sauber driver Zhou Guanyu and Aston Martin reserve Felipe Drugovich have also been linked with a seat.

In an exclusive interview with Sky Sports News from their UK base at Silverstone ahead of this weekend’s British Grand Prix as the countdown continues to their maiden race next March, Lowdon said: “The good thing is we know a lot of the drivers who are out there.

“Both the younger guys who have been coming up through Formula 2 and also the more established drivers who have a lot of Formula 1 experience. We talk to these people all of the time and we try and spend time in the paddock as well.

“The main focus up to now has been building the car. I think if we reach Melbourne and there was no car for a driver to drive, then nobody would thank us at all.

“But that said, we are advancing discussions with a number of drivers.

“We won’t be announcing anything at Silverstone as such. But, I would say, watch this space.”

Did Bottas’ Cadillac post have any meaning?

Bottas, who is currently in a third driver role at Mercedes after losing his Sauber race seat at the end of last season, caused a stir on social media last week when he posted a video of himself next to a Cadillac road car and posed the question: “Do we like this seat?”

But asked if there was any wider significance, Lowdon said: “I saw that post – well, it shows he’s bought a Cadillac!

“But in terms of selecting the drivers, there’s a real mix of skills and we’re very lucky at the minute. We’re out of synchronisation with the other teams at present, we’ve got a little bit of time and we can spend that time making sure that when we do announce the driver line-up, it’ll be the right one.

“We hope that the fans will be excited by it as well, and hopefully excited by the fact that there’s a new team on the grid that they can follow.”

‘No new team has any right to be anywhere other than the back’ – Lowdon on embracing the challenge

On the countdown to their first race weekend in Melbourne on March 6-8, Lowdon said: “It’s a number that’s on the wall of every office that we have. We have a countdown clock, which shows the time between now and free practice one in Melbourne, so everyone’s acutely aware of the of the timeline.

“We’re on target.

“We’ve been in the wind tunnel with a ’26 car for quite some time.”

And Lowdon, who previously held a management role in F1 at the former Manor/Marussia team in 2010-2015, said of the challenge of competing at motorsport’s top level: “It’s super difficult. It’s intensely competitive, it really, really is.

“There is a regulation change so we are yet to see how other teams will adapt to that but no new team coming into Formula 1 has any right, in reality, to be anywhere other than the back of the grid. So obviously our challenge is to try and move forward and we’ve got all the right ingredients.

“Whilst we are very realistic about the task in hand… I think it is important to have ambition and you can see from TWG and from Cadillac, this is a team that does have vision and ambition to move forward. But we know how difficult that is.”

Next up in the 2025 Formula 1 season is the big one, the British Grand Prix at Silverstone – live on Sky Sports F1 and Sky Showcase with coverage from Thursday to Sunday’s race at 3pm. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime.