General Motors will enter F1 with its luxury brand in 2026 to become the 11th team on the grid.
Plenty has been said behind the scenes with speculation linking several drivers to the two vacant seats.
Sergio Perez is chief among them. The six-time grand prix winner was cast aside by Red Bull at the end of 2024 but is widely considered a safe pair of hands.
Helping his cause is the North American interest, particularly in his native Mexico.
Former Sauber drivers Valtteri Bottas and Guanyu Zhou are thought to be among the short-priced favourites too.
Speaking on the Fox Sports Pit Talk podcast, Andretti said Perez is a consideration among others.
“All I can tell you is that he’s certainly one of the drivers that’s being considered,” said Andretti, who is on the board of directors at Cadillac F1.
“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.”
Most experienced heads currently on the grid are contracted through to 2026, leaving just a handful of younger, off-contract drivers available.
That’s problematic, according to the 1978 F1 champion, but not an insurmountable obstacle with the likes of Perez, Bottas, and Zhou all eager to get back on the grid.
“The choice is somewhat limited. Let’s face it, a lot of the great talents are already under contract,” said Andretti.
“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.”
Those “other places” could point towards Colton Herta, who sits ninth in the IndyCar points.
It stands to reason that Herta would be a good option for Cadillac to probe as one of the leading Americans in the IndyCar Series.
Herta has direct ties to the Cadillac program by way of Andretti Global, which is owned by TWG Motorsports group.
FIA Super Licence points may limit his eligibility to enter F1, and the 25-year-old has previously admitted that he has given up hope on ever getting to motorsport’s top echelon.
“Since we haven’t had a lot of participation as of late in Formula 1, I think to have a vehicle, to have a team to really truly consider American, I think that the idea of trying to look at bringing some talent from here is for real,” said Andretti.
“[F1] is definitely riding a wave of popularity [in the US] — it’s unprecedented — but you still have to feed that.
“I think there’s a lot of national pride. The fact that we have three races here — why not have the opportunity to cultivate and have some of the US fans root for American drivers at one point?
“All of this is looking forward to the future. These are the things to work toward, because it’s all positive, and if you have a bubble, like we do here, you have to keep feeding that bubble. You don’t want to let it burst.”
Andretti conceded having an American driver from the outset wouldn’t be at the cost of the team’s performance, pointing towards the second season before signing a home town hero.
“The optimum idea would be if we could definitely say, ‘Yes, we have the American already’,” Andretti explained.
“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.”
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