Cadillac insists that "favouritism" will play no part in its Formula 1 driver choice for next season, despite its obvious desire for an American driver.
With the team having last week finally been given official confirmation it has an F1 entry for 2026, it can now start nailing down who will take its race seats.
Given its American ties, it is no surprise Cadillac has set sights on bringing some homegrown talent through – with IndyCar race-winner Colton Herta the obvious lead candidate since the Cadillac project originally began under the Andretti banner.
But team principal Graeme Lowdon has made it clear Cadillac’s priority is picking the best drivers available, rather than having any predetermined notion of choosing someone because of their nationality.
"F1 is not a playground," said Lowdon. "This is the pinnacle of world motorsports. So we need to select drivers on merit. And luckily for us, there are a lot of good drivers out there."
He added: "The obvious question is whether we'll have American drivers. Personally, I see no reason why an American driver can't be selected on merit as well.
"It's certainly something that I think the fans would like to see. And I see no reason why that can't happen.
"But the overriding objective is merit. We've got a job to do here."
One of the biggest uncertainties about Herta is that he has not yet secured the necessary points he needs for an F1 superlicence.
He currently has 31 points to his name and to secure the extra nine required to get across the line, he needs to finish fourth in the IndyCar championship this year. Though he qualified on the front row for the recent season-opener in St Petersburg, multiple pitstop problems left him only 15th at the finish.
Lowdon admitted that Herta’s Cadillac fate ultimately rested on him securing the necessary points.
"He doesn't have the required number of superlicence points. And if that were to remain the case, then that's clearly an impediment for him.
"We can't choose a driver that doesn't have the points. That's just the real world that we live in."
The shortlist
Lowdon said there was probably a shortlist of around six drivers who were serious candidates for Cadillac – with experience clearly a major factor that it will be looking at.
It is certainly not short of options, with former F1 race drivers such as Valtteri Bottas, Sergio Perez and Mick Schumacher all having been linked with the squad in recent weeks.
Asked about such experienced drivers being of potential interest, Lowdon said: "Do we see experienced, capable drivers, in fact, very talented drivers, who currently aren't on the grid? Yes, we do.
"So we are going to be quite busy talking to a few people. 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 F1 or to be in F1 again."
Another possibility is Zhou Guanyu, who Lowdon helps manage. The Chinese is out of a race seat this year after being dropped by Sauber and has taken a reserve role at Ferrari – which will supply engines to Cadillac next season.
But again, Lowdon insisted that his ties to Zhou will not move him up the list, as the final decision would be the team choosing who was the best fit.
"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," he said.
"We're there to do a job, so we'll select drivers on merit. There's some really good ones out there, Zhou included."
