Last Updated on May 14 2025, 11:30 am

Italian-American motor racing legend, Mario Andretti, has been appointed to a non-executive directors’ role for the incoming eleventh Formula One team now named Cadillac. The new F1 entrant is in all but name the Andretti Organisation’s F1 fledgling team which received the green light from from the FIA to join the grid, but greed amongst the existing ten teams refused the application to progress.

Under threat of a massive multi billion dollar fine from the US Department of Justice, F1 folded like the joker in less than a week and the new ‘improved’ Cadillac entry was welcomed into the F1 fold.

Less than eight months away from pre-season testing, Cadillac are yet to announce their driver line up but Mario Andretti has confirmed that Sergio Perez is being considered amongst others to drive for the first new F1 team for a decade.

 

 

 

Andretti calls out F1 driver “limited choice”

Speaking this week to Fox Sports, the 1978 F1 champ revealed: “All I can tell you is that he’s [Perez] certainly one of the drivers that’s being considered. He has to be. I cannot divulge as to where we are with any commitment whatsoever — I think we want to keep that luxury to ourselves until we feel that we have scanned the entire spectrum of availability. I think that’s a prudent thing to do.”

Yet Mario appeared less than enthused in the options open to his new team. “The choice is somewhat limited — let’s face it, a lot of the great talents are already under contract. Fortunately still there are a few out there — three or four; I’ll say maybe three — that certainly deserve consideration, and all of this is being looked upon very seriously. There are some conversations going on somewhere and in some other places. That’s as much as I can tell you to be fair to everyone.”

When the application was being made by the Andretti racing Organisation, both Mario and his son were fairly insistent they would like to recruit an American driver for their all American team. Yet the pickings are thin. One option would be to recruit the centennial Indy500 winner Alexander Rossi, although his career in Indycar appears to have peaked having been dropped by McLaren he finds himself racing with one of the sport’s smaller outfits in 2025, Ed Carpenter Racing.

One other all American option would be Californian born Colton Herta, yet he doesn’t have the points for an F1 super licence given the ridiculous bias the FIA place on junior racing in Europe. Runaway leader of the 2025 Indycar series and soon to be four times champion, Alex Palou would be an excellent choice, yet having been rejected by the FIA’s European conditions he looks set to smash al time records in North America where he can become a true legend of the sport.

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Cadillac to wait a season for US driver

The much talked about Mick Schumacher is on the list, but the son of the great man has a fragment of his fathers talent and cost the Haas F1 team millions in crash damage repair during his two seasons with Haas F1. Then there’s Zhou Guanyu who lost his seat at Sauber this season, yet despite his financial backers in China, he brings little in terms of experience or raw talent to the table.

Valttteri Bottas is the biggest likely challenge to Perez and although his ten Grand Prix wins were all claimed in an uber dominant Mercedes car, the Finn had his days where he was quicker than Lewis Hamilton – and that’s when the British driver was in his pomp.

Andretti refused to reveal his hand in terms of the driver chiuoces open to Cadillac, although he unsurprisingly confirmed there were a number of drivers keen to join the team off only as a stepping stone back into F1. “What’s encouraging is that there is really some good reaction to individuals that want to join. I think that’s a good thing for us.”

When asked about the dream of an ‘all American’ driver Mario was coy with his reposes suggesting the ability of the driver is more important than the nationality on his passport. “Especially when you’re starting out, you have to try to consider the team itself — to go on merit,” he said. “If we feel that right at the moment we might wait a season or so before we bring in an American, so be it.

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Perez has ‘better’ options

“As I said, the optimum idea would be if we could definitely say, ‘Yes, we have the American already’. At one point maybe we might have thought so, but we want to keep that option open. I think it’s really important to try to arm the team in the best way possible, especially going in.”

Meanwhile, Sergio Perez’s confidence of an F1 return in 29026 is growing, to the point where he is holding Cadillac at bay for the present. Reports are emerging that Alpine are considering a move for the Mexican driver, with ne3 kid on the block Franco Colapinto being offered a fixed term deal to race for the next five or six F1 race weekends.

Ex-F1 racer and Indy500 winner, Pablo Montoya believes Perez should shun the newly founded Cadillac operation suggesting a move to Enstone makes more sense for Checo than the gamble on a start up.

“I would still think Sergio Perez’s main aim is to get the Cadillac seat, but if he can get into the Alpine next year, that would be much better for him,” Montoya told Sites de Apostas.

“If you’re doing one or two more years in F1 before you stop, I think Alpine makes much more sense. But what happens to Franco Colapinto? It’s a complicated situation. Could Perez come back to Red Bull? I think the only person who can displace Yuki Tsunoda is Isack Hadjar, he’s shown great potential at VCARB.”

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