Graeme Lowdon opens up on driver situation with Cadillac team as they prepare themselves to start on the grid from 2026 F1 season onward.
After they got the confirmation to be part of the F1 grid from 2026 onward, team principal Lowdon had his first media session to discuss about the progress they have made behind the scenes whether it is at their United Kingdom base and or the United States of America.
They have been quietly hiring personnel but not as Cadillac team, since they didn’t get the green signal to be part of the F1 grid. But people still joined in with the hope of making it in. Apart from the personnel, one of the major talking points is the drivers and its nationality.
Being an American team, the obvious choice is taking a driver from their own country. But Lowdon stresses on the merit part. He knows that an American diver can make it in F1, but it won’t be an automatic selection, the driver has to deliver on the blueprint that Cadillac has.
There is Colton Herta in the mix but he doesn’t carry the required superlicense points. He is part of the list but it will all depend on the points he has. There is no contact with Logan Sargeant, though, as Lowdon clarifies. Among others, Zhou Guanyu is another one that can make it.
The Chinese driver is currently a reserve at Ferrari, but he is managed by Lowdon, which is why he knows him inside out. There are other experienced drivers like Kevin Magnussen, Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez, who will be looked at as part of the blueprint they have set out.
Driver situation –
Lowdon: “We definitely select on merit. Formula 1, it’s not a playground, this is the pinnacle of world motorsport. 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 was 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 conversations. But for sure we want to have drivers that can contribute to the overall programme. The obvious question is whether we can have American drivers and personally, 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. But the overriding objective is merit, we got a job to do here.”
Worked with Zhou Guanyu, his situation –
Lowdon: “I don’t see any particular problem. I don’t envisage any particular problem on that front and as I said before, driver selection will definitely be on merit. I think Zhou’s done an exceptionally good job under difficult circumstances over the last couple of years. What’s 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 to see all that. That’s a benefit. There’s the correct checks and balances in place, so there’s no favouritism in any particular direction towards him or any other driver that we may have involvement with – there’s other driver on the grid that we have involvement with. Coming back on it, we are there to do a job, so we’ll select drivers on merit. There’s some really good ones 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 going forward.”
Experience laying around in non-driving seats –
Lowdon: “I think in terms of timing, it’s kind of a little bit odd because we’re out of sync with the other teams, we weren’t in the driver market during the fairly critical last round, so certain drivers are tied up for certain periods. But there’s still lot of good talent around, so I don’t really see that as a limiting factor. Do we value experience? Yes, you can see that from how we’re putting the rest of the team together – there’s a lot of very experienced people within the management and operational side of the team as well. So, yes, that is important, but, when you’re looking at driver selection, there’s just a whole bunch of things that go into the decision making. So it’s ability, capability, experience – but also looking towards the future as well.
“I know it’s not the best answer in the world, because it doesn’t give a steer of which direction we may be going in, but it’s the real answer, which is that’s pretty much what we’re analysing at the minute. It’s important for us to talk to a number of potential candidates. Do we see experienced, capable and very talented drivers who currently aren’t on the grid? Yes, we do. We are going to be quite busy talking to a few people, my phone’s certainly been busy, that’s for sure. What’s a little bit difficult because of the situation that we’re in as a new team, the timeline isn’t as laid out as it normally is. It’s normally quite clear for all of us involved in the driver negotiations. We are out of sync because we have no history. But as I said before, there are easily half a dozen, if not more candidates out there who offer extremely good credentials to be in Formula 1 or to be in Formula 1 again.”
IndyCar, WEC, IMSA can be a route –
Lowdon: “I think especially in the modern times you see that…gone are the days, I am talking decades ago where drivers almost uniquely suited for different formula. I think we see more and more that as different formula have become more and more specialised, Formula 1 included and IndyCar and WEC and IMSA, you tend to get people who are just incredibly good at particular form of racing, be it endurance racing or whatever. And certainly, we are trying to build a blueprint, what are the attributes that the best driver we could possibly have and we have a blueprint for that. We have worked with lot of drivers over the years and I think we understand what it is that we need and it can change over time as well depending upon where you are in the competitive ladder in Formula 1. So, I think it is less simplification should I say, if you are at the sharp end of IndyCar, you are naturally good at Formula 1. I think it is a case of what we are looking for a driver that fits our blueprint and we want to get close to that as we possibly can.”
Colton Herta situation –
Lowdon: “With regard to Colton, 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. So that’s just the real world that we live in, and we just have to take that into account. Does his lack of being at the threshold for the super license in any way affect his ability to drive a race car? No, he’s an incredibly talented driver. 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. Certainly, he’s not the only one actually in that situation where – he won’t be the first, he won’t be the last driver where there’s some uncertainty due to super license points – but we just have to live with that. That’s a regulation. We just have to respect it.”
American driver –
Lowdon: “Just 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 here – the partners have made this commitment into Formula 1 very much for the longer term. I think we spoke fairly early on in the process about our desire to also improve opportunities and ability, and the ability for the drivers to come through as well. We will be looking at some form of Academy programme and the likes and so, looking forward, I see no reason why we won’t have American drivers in the team on merit as well. Logan, from my understanding, is no longer involved in motorsport. Yes, he’s American, but we haven’t had any conversations with him.”
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