Why Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas make sense for Cadillac’s first driver line-up

Cadillac F1 has an extremely experienced driver pairing to form its first line-up upon arrival in F1 next year.

Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas have been announced as Cadillac’s F1 drivers for 2026, with the duo perhaps representing the best possible options that Graeme Lowdon’s team could have gone for in its first season.

Cadillac set for experienced driver pairing for F1 2026

This article was originally published on August 22 2025. It has been updated and republished following confirmation that Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez will drive for Cadillac in F1 2026.

With Cadillac arriving in F1 in just a few short months, the decision on just who will drive the team’s cars for its first year was something that needed to be made sooner rather than later.

Ever since confirmation came through that Cadillac would, finally, be allowed to take to the grid next year, the Graeme Lowdon-led squad had been somewhat spoiled for choice in terms of free agents – whether that be drivers of experience or those of unproven potential.

Experience as a deciding factor was always likely to be high on the list, with such drivers less likely to throw a car into the scenery in a premature effort to impress, but Lowdon did make it clear that simply being a veteran wouldn’t be the deciding 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,” Lowdon told media including PlanetF1.com earlier this year.

“So 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.”

But what was a huge advantage for Lowdon was that, by having not been on the grid, he had been able to pick through the options left on the table following the conclusions of 2024’s ‘silly season’, which included some very experienced names off the bat.

“In terms of timing, it’s kind of a little bit odd because we’re out of sync with the other teams,” he said.

“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 a lot of extremely good talent around.”

These talents included the likes of the recently available and hugely popular Daniel Ricciardo, as well as the multi-faceted Kevin Magnussen – both of whom had reached the end of the road with Racing Bulls and Haas, respectively.

But with the Australian deciding upon leaving F1 behind – a fact Lowdon addressed in saying he didn’t believe a driver needing convincing to return would be the right option – and Magnussen picking back up his sports car career, these options seemed to drop off the table quite quickly.

Alongside American options such as Logan Sargeant and the more tenuous Colton Herta (due to his Super Licence status), there was also the Lowdon-managed Zhou Guanyu, as well as former Red Bull driver Sergio Perez and Mercedes’ reserve Valtteri Bottas.

It’s these final two who have been confirmed as Cadillac’s choices for F1 2026.

It appears that Lowdon has opted for experience as a deciding factor, although both drivers are far more than just the number of grands prix entries beside their names.

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Why Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas are great Cadillac options

Let’s start with that number of grands prix, though. Perez has entered 285 GP weekends, while Bottas is on 247.

The Mexican driver has scored 1638 points, the 16th-highest total of any driver in F1’s history. Bottas, in a slightly shorter career, has scored 1797 points to place 11th in the all-time list.

Both are multiple grand prix winners, with Perez on six wins and Bottas on 10, while both have plenty of experience reaching the podium – Perez has done it 39 times, while Bottas has managed 67.

Perhaps most importantly, though, is the fact that both have experience racing and winning with a world-championship-level team.

Bottas raced for Mercedes between 2017 and ’21 as Lewis Hamilton’s teammate, with the Finn finishing as championship runner-up twice, while helping his team win the Constructors’ Championship.

Perez drove for Red Bull between 2021 and ’24, helping Max Verstappen win the title in ’21 and Red Bull the titles in 2022 and ’23. He also finished as runner-up in ’23.

It can’t be avoided that both Bottas and Perez were outshone by their respective teammates during this time period, but we are talking about generational talents in Hamilton and Verstappen – two drivers who have stood out, elite amongst the excellent, against their peers.

But it’s the smorgasbord of midfield experience that both also have that makes them hugely attractive to Cadillac. Perez hauled Sauber to a podium in 2012, and did so on multiple occasions as well with Force India/Racing Point.

Such was his ability to maximise the potential of his Force India, he never finished outside the top 10 in the Drivers’ Championship during his seven years with the Silverstone-based squad, and he was often the star performer against his teammates as the squad regularly finished in the upper climes of the midfield standings.

Bottas’ time with midfield teams is less storied, given the Alfa Romeo team he raced with for three years was less competitive overall, but when the car was under him, such as at the start of 2022, he was a regular points scorer.

Early in his career, at Williams, he scored podiums in each year he was with the Grove-based squad, and was a multiple visitor in 2014.

These are drivers who have proven records at bringing home results in the midfield, as well as at the very front.

While both perhaps lack the final tenth or two of pace and the sprinkle of magic that their World Champion teammates have had, and sometimes been shown up as a result, they have thrived when in environments with slightly lower expectations.

There have been plenty of drivers like this over the years, those who struggle to bring out their best when in the best equipment and, arguably, underperform.

Think Giancarlo Fisichella, Heinz-Harald Frentzen, or Jarno Trulli. But put them in a car and an environment where they’re not expected to win, and all of a sudden, they come alive.

Even 2007 F1 World Champion Kimi Raikkonen was somewhat guilty of this, thriving as an underdog rather than when under the weight of expectation.

With Cadillac being a small, burgeoning team with an atmosphere that’s likely to feel quite close and family-like as they take on the establishment together, this type of environment may be exactly where Bottas and Perez thrive.

Certainly, both have made it clear that, despite falling off the grid after last year, they had not put F1 behind them, showing a crucial, unabated hunger that means their competitive edge has not been dulled – these are no mere ‘test drivers’.

Added to that is the commercial aspect, as both boast private backers, although it’s an area Perez definitely has a big advantage over Bottas, as the Mexican driver has the likes of Claro, Telcel, Inter.mx, and Disney behind him.

Are there ultimately faster drivers available? Quite possibly.

The likes of Felipe Drugovich – understood to have been the preferred rookie choice due to his proven ability in sim and development work at Aston Martin – Jak Crawford, and Alex Dunne all represent huge potential.

But it’s not outright raw pace that Cadillac needs in its first year.

Barring an incredible turn of events, the burgeoning project will likely toil around in the lower quarter of the field as the team establishes a baseline for its operational and technical abilities.

Having a fearsomely fast driver might secure the team a 16th-place finish rather than a 17th, but there’s also the greater risk of the car coming home in pieces and extending the team’s learning period considerably.

What Cadillac needs is a driver who will keep it on the road most of the time, bring the car home intact while gathering lots of data, and race cleanly in the midfield without performing desperate lunges or daring pass attempts in a bid to further their careers by impressing teams further up the grid.

Bottas and Perez can be trusted to do all of this, having shown a consistent ability to drive within themselves throughout their long careers.

It might be less exciting but the results won’t be vastly different while it helps with keeping costs down as the team learns how to use its finances effectively, and while there might be the question mark of whether there’s a small bit of time left on the table, the trade-off in risk to bring in someone less experienced at controlling a car and their own temperament on track doesn’t justify gambling on unproven potential at this point.

No matter how well-intended a rookie may be, there are precious few who don’t have to go through a period of ‘growing pains’ to bring out the best in themselves.

These are periods which are well behind both Perez and Bottas, meaning Lowdon can be confident that both will be capable of performing near the car’s ultimate potential right from the start.

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