Bottas? Prez? Which drivers could Cadillac sign ahead of 2026 F1 debut?

Cadillac's Formula 1 program is at full speed preparing for the outfit's debut season in 2026, where it joins as the grid's 11th team.

The identity of its two drivers has yet to be revealed. In fact, the team has said naming its lineup is way down the line of priorities as it steams toward its first race, the Australian Grand Prix on March 8 next year, which follows 10 days of preseason tests across Barcelona and Bahrain.

With F1's silly season usually exploding into life in the European summer, the speculation about who will be racing for F1's 11th team is going to intensify in the coming weeks. So who could be taking the two race seats for the Detroit marque?

What's the holdup?

Cadillac is in a relatively relaxed position when it comes to announcing its drivers. With the team's debut fast approaching, all attention is focused on the car. The identity of those in the cockpit can wait.

As team boss Graeme Lowdon recently told the media during a tour of the team's new factory: "A good comment, actually, from someone walking around when they saw all the stuff that was going on, it was, 'I can see why the drivers isn't the number one thing on the list, as it is at other teams, where they're dealing with a different level of what's already in place'. So, no, nothing's decided yet."

But there's bigger factors at play as well than simply building a team.

Many of F1's big-name drivers are locked down for multiple seasons in their current team. There's also often little to be gained by making early driver market decisions. Say, for example, a seismic shift occurred in the next few months and Max Verstappen did decide to leave Red Bull for Mercedes or Aston Martin -- unlikely, but still a lingering rumor in the paddock -- then the ripple effect would be huge. Alpine, who will race with Mercedes power in 2026, also appears set to have what could be a very appealing seat available, with the team unconvinced by both Jack Doohan and Franco Colapinto.

The frontrunners

As Lowdon went on to say: "We know who's in the market, we've got a good idea of what we need, but we're still some way off reaching that stage. I think there's a very strong argument to say that a new team in its first year of racing would benefit hugely from people who are experienced."

Two drivers with legitimate race-winning experience from inside a championship-winning team are available, and appear to be the most obvious and the most desired candidates.

Sergio Prez

Prez has been on the sidelines since being pushed out at Red Bull at the end of last year. The failure of both Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda to do any better in that car this year has helped there be a quick revisionism on how Prez actually fared, although his 2023 and 2024 seasons were incredibly difficult. It is a known fact in the paddock that being Verstappen's teammate might the toughest job of them all, and Prez's reputation has not been significantly damaged to rule him out of an opportunity here.

ESPN sources have said Cadillac immediately reached out to Prez once his Red Bull deal was cut short. He has been in no rush to commit, able to enjoy life away from racing for the first time since he was a child, but then nor has the American team -- and it is understood Prez remains top of their list. A multiple race winner and hugely popular among the Latin American fanbase, he would make a lot of sense for Cadillac's maiden F1 season.

Valtteri Bottas

Valtteri Bottas got social media buzzing with a recent post where he approached a parked Cadillac and said, "Oh wow, that's actually a nice seat." The cheeky, teasing post suggested a supreme confidence in what he will be doing next season, but it was vintage Bottas. The post was overwhelmingly well received, demonstrating just how popular the former Mercedes driver remains among the F1 fanbase.

Clearly, Bottas is a strong contender and ESPN understands talks have been going on for a while. Like Prez, his pedigree is obvious, with insight of the inner workings of the dynasty Mercedes team in his back pocket. Unlike Prez, Bottas was able to enjoy a renaissance after he stopped being the teammate of a world champion, with two strong seasons at Sauber. There's no doubt the Cadillac interest is strong. Bottas is a proven commodity and still has plenty left in the tank to give another team.

It's worth noting that Cadillac might have their work cut out if they want both Prez and Bottas to lead the line. Flavio Briatore is understood to have reached out to both about an Alpine seat. Previously Alpine has been a risky proposition, but it is switching to Mercedes power next season, making it a very attractive proposition.

Other options

Zhou Guanyu

Perhaps a left-field option, but Zhou's name has circled for a while. China's first ever F1 driver had three seasons as Bottas' teammate at Suber but never set the world alight during that time. Paddock consensus is he's a good driver, with an obvious upside: huge marketability in Asia, which is something incredibly valuable to car manufacturers.

Since leaving Sauber, Zhou has become reserve and simulator driver for Ferrari, keeping him right in the thick of the paddock in his absence. There's another good reason he's in the frame: Cadillac team boss Lowdon is his manager.

Yuki Tsunoda

It's hard to make sense of what Tsunoda does next. His dream move to Red Bull has turned into something of a nightmare since the Japanese Grand Prix as he's fallen victim to the same issues encountered by Prez: the harsh measuring stick of being Verstappen's teammate. Tsunoda's close links to Honda -- who gave Red Bull an engine discount for the final year of their partnership in exchange for his promotion -- makes it unlikely he will stay at the former world champions beyond this season.

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Cadillac would look like an attractive proposition; an escape from the Red Bull program and an opportunity to get in on the ground floor with a team set to be a fully fledged manufacturer by the end of the decade. Sources have told ESPN that Tsunoda's agent spoke with Cadillac at the Monaco Grand Prix; informal discussions had already been underway before Tsunoda's shock promotion in April, which briefly put things on ice.

Are there any viable American or IndyCar candidates?

From the very beginning, there has been a clear desire to have an American driver fronting this outfit. Even when Michael Andretti was trying to buy Sauber a few years before the plans for an 11th team got off the ground, it was clear IndyCar driver Colton Herta was central to his plans. While Andretti has been sidelined in the Cadillac project, father Mario is on the board, and the dream scenario would be to have a U.S. driver on the roster.

Achieving this will actually be difficult. Herta is no certainty; he needs to finish fourth in the championship this year -- or fifth, with two FP1 appearances -- before the end of the F1 season in order to have the super license points he needs to be eligible to compete next year. Earlier this year he appeared to distance himself from the idea of moving over to F1.

There's a left-field option closer to home in the F1 orbit. Jak Crawford, born in Charlotte, North Carolina, is racing in Formula 2 this season and will be granted a super license if he finishes fifth or higher in the championship. An Aston Martin reserve drivers, Crawford might present a risky option as a rookie, but 2025 has demonstrated how F1-ready many young drivers in the feeder series are when they make the step up. There's no reason to think he couldn't do the same; he's shown flashes of real promise in F2, where he is third in the championship, with wins in Monaco and Imola to his name.

What about Ricciardo?