A Mercedes driver's punchy pitch for 2027 Cadillac F1 seat
Colton Herta may be the most high-profile name in the race to take away Valtteri Bottas's 2027 Cadillac seat, but there's an under-the-radar figure in Mercedes' return to the top of Formula 1 who is making a good case for himself too.
In the same Mexico FP1 session where Herta ticked off another superlicence point in his bid to finally get on the F1 grid (but not, as it turned out, his last), Fred Vesti was arguably the standout rookie as, in place of George Russell, he compared well to Kimi Antonelli - lapping just 0.111s slower than F1's new world champion.
Deputy Mercedes team principal Bradley Lord called it the "most impressive" of Vesti's seven F1 practice outings so far.
Vesti, who is a contender alongside the likes of Bottas, Herta and Yuki Tsunoda to be Sergio Perez's 2027 team-mate at Cadillac, openly declared after his FP1 outing: "The timing couldn't be better.
"There are discussions about a seat and I've got my eyes on that [Cadillac] seat. I believe I would be very, very good in that car and to be in Formula 1 has been my goal ever since I started driving."
The Race sat down with Vesti in Mexico to find out more about his pitch, what he thinks he could offer Cadillac, and how he's been leading the development of Mercedes' 2026 car in the virtual world.
A standout FP1
Vesti is right that his third Mexico FP1 outing was well-timed given Cadillac is yet to make a final 2027 driver decision.
Mercedes - with the blessing of Russell - allowed Vesti to properly push on his soft tyres to show his performance potential, given some of his previous outings have been more focused on development work.
"He [Russell] was very happy. I think it's always difficult for a driver to give up their car for a rookie, but equally I've done this a lot now," Vesti told The Race.
"I've been working with George for the last four years and we've been very, very close. He's helped me a lot in F2 [Russell was champion in 2018, Vesti raced in 2022-23]. So to jump in his car was quite special and I think he trusted me to push the car.
"It's not a given to be on soft tyres in FP1 and having that trust from the team and from George I think really shows sort of what position I've reached now within the team and how much they're backing me."
Russell was full of praise for Vesti after the session, going out of his way to declare Vesti deserves a shot in F1.
"He did a really good job, I know he's really fighting hard to be in with a shot potentially of the Cadillac seat and I think he deserves his chance," Russell said.
"He's put a lot of effort and work in with our team, we all respect him very highly, most FP1 sessions that he's done he's sort of had the brunt of the work and not really getting performance runs in.
"So I think it was important for us as a team, and I said to the team, I want to ensure that he gets an opportunity to show what he can do. That's the least that we could do."
Vesti delivered a strong headline time on his soft-tyre run to finish the session third, finding an impressive 1.1s improvement from his best lap on the hards, exceeding the estimated gain.
"I made a big step forward and managed to, not [fully] optimise because there's still a lot of laptime to find with more runs, but to really put a solid lap together which I can be proud of," Vesti said.
"When I saw P3, I think any rookie driver's dream is to be punching the top three when you have one hour in the car.
"I think that shows I managed to get the most out of what I had for FP1."
Vesti's (dotted line) tenth-of-a-second loss to Antonelli (solid line) is partly explained by one gear choice.
"A bit of a regret - I used first gear, I should probably have been in second," Vesti said of his approach through Turn 16 on the way out of the stadium section.
"On my second lap on the soft, I managed to go green, green [personal best in] sector two and three [making his theoretical lap to just 0.051s slower than Antonelli]. So it just shows there's more laptime to be found.
"I said straight after to George, 'Please can I do FP2 just to optimise my lap?' It's hard when you get one hour and if you imagine jumping on a soft tyre one lap to where you have the peak of the tyre, it's really difficult to optimise that one lap.
"Looking at what I did I can be very, very happy with that."
As well as his soft-tyre performance run, Vesti also completed important aerodynamic testing work for Mercedes on the hard tyres, helping it better understand its upgraded car and its narrower window than its predecessor.
"The ultimate peak of the car is still very, very high but it's definitely a bit more challenging to drive," Vesti said. "It's a bit more unforgiving in some corners and I felt that during my soft tyre lap. I was sideways multiple times. So it's definitely a different car to drive."
Integral to Mercedes
Vesti joined Mercedes' driver academy in 2021, and has played an important role in the development of its championship-leading 2026 car.
"We started developing this car in the end of '24, which sounds crazy when you still have a world championship to fight for in '25, but this car has been on the way for a long time and I've sort of been leading that development in the simulator," Vesti explained.
"It's really been an interesting journey from design. The car didn't exist, we were running it in the sim, to finally seeing it come alive during testing and then finding out what sort of personality the car was, and then we've been developing it really well throughout the year.
"But I think what has really been interesting, we have had multiple never-before-seen things in F1 in terms of development, and I've been at the forefront with that. Learning with the team on track, bringing it back to Brackley and working on it there as well.
"It has really been an interesting year, and to see Kimi and George win races, it means a lot.
"Even though I'm not driving - I want to, obviously my goal has always been to be on the grid - I've actually taken quite a lot of joy in seeing that development this year, which I think is quite rare for a reserved third driver to actually really truly care what goes on on Sunday."
The 24-year-old has earned a strong reputation within Mercedes as a dependable, diligent and fast driver. He's far more than a typical back-up driver or a driver just there to tick off the mandatory practice outings.
After all, Vesti estimates he's done around 300 days in Mercedes' simulator over his five years with the team, with between 150 and 200 laps completed on each of those days. That's over 50,000 laps.
"It's multiple seasons of running, I've done every single track, race starts, race running, qualifying, we're simulating the whole thing, so it's quite interesting. I almost feel like I've driven all the racetracks and raced at them, because we're doing such an intense programme in the sim," Vesti said.
"I am a rookie, considering race starts, but within the team I'm not being mentioned any time [as] a rookie. There's a reason I'm called third driver.
"The team is seeing me as a vital part of the team, and the fact that I can jump in and do proper testing in these FPs, I also did a Pirelli test two weeks ago, it was the final review of the '27 tyres, so to be able to do those really key tests, I think shows the level, and that's not rookie level; it's beyond that."
What he thinks he can offer Cadillac
Vesti did finish second in F2 in 2023, only 11 points shy of Theo Pourchaire with six race wins to Prema team-mate Ollie Bearman's four, although with the benefit of more experience.
That put a full stop on a solid junior single-seater career. He didn't end up with a CV that demanded an F1 graduation like Charles Leclerc's or Oscar Piastri's, but Vesti routinely compared well (and beat) current F1 drivers including Bearman, Liam Lawson and Isack Hadjar.
There never appeared to be a realistic opening for Vesti to graduate to F1 shortly after F2, however, unlike four drivers he raced against in F2 in 2023 (Lawson, Jack Doohan, Hadjar and Bearman).
"It's a mixed feeling of frustration that there hasn't been a seat for me yet, given my F2 campaign and the level I've shown, but equally it's also a motivation that I know that these guys have made it. Ollie, Kimi, they're all doing amazing in F1," Vesti said.
"It really gives me that trust that there's no reason I wouldn't be right at their level when I make it to F1."
Vesti thought his insider knowledge of a title-winning F1 team can also swing things in his favour.
"It's very clear that I have a knowledge bank bigger than most in Formula 1. I've sort of stepped up, step by step from '21 to '26, and in '26 I've been leading that development in the championship-leading car," Vesti said.
"What has taken us here, I basically have been a crucial part of that, and know how that has happened.
"For some of the smaller teams, having that knowledge could be very, very valuable to them, and for them to take the next step.
"Speed and racecraft, I don't think is a question. I feel ready, and I'm so hungry to get on the grid."
Vesti already races for Cadillac as he's been a part of its top-class line-up in the IMSA SportsCar Championship for the last two years.
But he made it abundantly clear his only goal is reaching F1.
"I think some people can misunderstand my thoughts sometimes," Vesti said.
"F1 is the only thing I care about. F1 is the only place I want to be, and everything I do on the side is for me to be prepared for Formula 1.
"So some drivers in my position have given up year one, year two, year three, and for me I have absolutely no reason to give up, because I truly believe very deep down that there is a seat for me.
"Also, what I'm hearing both from Mercedes and other people in F1, there is no reason not to be giving everything and trust that a seat could show up."
