The Cadillac event where it was rumored that Formula 1's newest team put on in Miami earlier this month proved to be a real nothing-burger as far as news about the team's inaugural lineup is concerned, which means that we get more time to speculate about which drivers will be in the team's two cars early next year.
Former Haas team principal Guenther Steiner was recently asked about who he thinks the team should pick to drive their first batch of F1 cars, and he gave a pairing that, for reasons we will get into, is the best possible combo the team could select.
Steiner was a guest on the F1 Explains podcast, and he was asked about Cadillac, given that he has experience building and leading a new F1 team. Of course, a big piece of that puzzle is driver selection, and Steiner gave his two cents.
"If I were Cadillac, I would look to experienced drivers, the same reason I said before. In a young team, the best is to get experience in people who have done it, who help the team to get going, who help the team to make progress quicker than the rookies," Steiner said, per Motorsport.
"For me, the ideal team would be (Valtteri) Bottas and Sergio Perez. I would bring them two in."
If any Cadillac brass is reading this, listen to Guenther.
It's been known that Cadillac was keen to have an American driver in one of their cars. The big problem with this is that there aren't really any serviceable Americans with F1 experience at the moment. That's a problem because being a rookie in F1 is arguably tougher than it is in any other sport due to the limited amount of track time.
Yeah, it's cool to have a driver matching the nationality of the team, but it shouldn't be at the top of the shopping list.
The thought was that they'd put an experienced driver, but why not go with two experienced drivers? Especially since they would be able to help the team on the car development front more than a rookie who is just learning what it's like to drive an F1 car.
Bottas and Perez would be ideal for this, considering both are race-winners who have driven championship-winning cars. Don't expect to see Cadillac fighting for wins in Year One, but if they show up with a halfway decent car and can develop it properly, I think racing toward the back of the midfield could be realistic.
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