11/03/2025
NEWS STORY
Admitting that Colton Herta is one of the drivers Cadillac is considering for next season, Graeme Lowdon reveals that Guanyu Zhou is another possibility.
Before a wheel has even turned this season, with a new team on the grid in 2026 one could say that the silly season has already begun.
Whilst certain social media fans are busy pushing for Franco Colapinto to replace Jack Doohan at Alpine as soon as possible, looking ahead there is already a strong push emerging for Sergio Perez to take his experience to Cadillac.
However, though there are a number of potential drivers for the American team to consider, speaking in a video call team boss Lowdon only mentioned two by name.
"The obvious question is whether we'll have American drivers," he admitted, "and personally I see no reason why an American driver can't be selected on merit.
"The overriding objective is merit," he insisted.
"Do we see experienced, capable drivers, very talented drivers, who currently aren't on the grid? Yes, we do," he continued, a possible reference to Perez, or even Daniel Ricciardo or Valtteri Bottas.
"We are going to be quite busy talking to a few people," he admitted. "My phone has certainly been busy, that's for sure.
"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," he teased.
Asked specifically about Colton Herta, who has yet to qualify for the requisite superlicence, he said: "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.
"He won't be the last driver where there's some uncertainty due to super licence points but we just have to live with that. That's a regulation. We just have to respect it."
However, Lowdon also has links with Zhou, who is a reserve driver for Ferrari this year, the Italian company set to supply Cadillac's engines for the team's first couple of seasons.
"I think Zhou's done an exceptionally good job under difficult circumstances over the last couple of years," said Lowdon. "He doesn't necessarily need to explain the background of his abilities because I've had a front row seat to see all that.
"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 some really good ones out there, Zhou included."
Of course, despite Mr Lowdon's talk of merit, and with no disrespect to any of the drivers named, as the sport - and all those involved - increasingly look to the bottom line in terms of profit, surely including a Chinese driver would be a smart move for the American team, then again, whoever jumps the gun in terms of signing a woman would not only be doing itself a favour (financially) but the sport as a whole. Make no mistake, the overriding factor these days is money, virtually nothing else. That said, perhaps F1 might get lucky and discover a Caitlin Clark.