Cadillac board member and former Formula 1 champion Mario Andretti has broken his silence regarding the team’s 2026 driver line-up.

With the 2026 season just months away, all eyes are on the 11th team on the grid for the upcoming season: Cadillac.

The General Motors-backed project will begin life on the grid as a Ferrari customer team, with the understanding that it will start producing its own engines from 2028 onwards.

And while the team has already sorted out stuff on the chassis and powertrain side, it is yet to announce arguably the most important piece of the puzzle: its driver line-up.

The likes of Valtteri Bottas, Sergio Perez, and Mick Schumacher had all been in the running, as per reports.

That said, earlier this week, it seems that the duo of Bottas and Perez have agreed a deal, at least in principle, to race for the American outfit.

Andretti breaks silence on Cadillac reports

Andretti has been keen to get back into the sport, this time in an owner role.

His bid to introduce the Andretti brand into the paddock failed, but he has clawed his way back onto the grid with Cadillac.

The 1978 F1 World Champion was signed up by Cadillac as an advisor and board member.

And despite all the signals pointing towards the duo of Perez and Bottas to kick off Cadillac’s venture, the 85-year-old urged fans to only believe what the team officially puts out.

While speaking to German publication BILD, Andretti kept his cards close to his chest as he did not divulge any expected date or time period for the team’s driver announcement.

“Just believe what we communicate,” he said.

Perez’s former boss, Otmar Szafnauer, is confident that Cadillac has rightly placed its faith in experience over youth as the team begins life at the pinnacle of single-seaters.

“If he [Perez] finds the right environment, with all of his experience at both smaller teams with less budget [than] Red Bull, he definitely has something to offer,” he told PlanetF1.

“Especially perhaps, a new team coming in that needs an experienced driver for the first couple of years, Checo would be a good addition.”

READ MORE – Why Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez is the sensible debut F1 driver line-up for Cadillac

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IndyCar took to the streets of Toronto on Saturday morning, turning practice laps in preparation for an important qualifying session later in the day.

Andretti Global was once again the fastest team, with Colton Herta setting the fastest individual time of the session.

Herta lapped the 1.79-mile course in 1:00.0578, just missing out on eclipsing the one minute barrier while completing qualifying simulations.

His team-mate Kyle Kirkwood was just a hair slower, following up his quick Friday performance with another on Saturday morning.

Team Penske was hot the heels of the Andretti duo, with Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin slotting into the third and fourth position on the timesheets.

Pato O’Ward was fifth quickest and reported that his car was as comfortable as can be expected on the slick course.

Unfortunately, Juncos Hollinger Racing appeared to be having nearly as many troubles as they did the day before. Conor Daly and Sting Ray Robb were 24th and 26th quickest respectively, with only Devlin DeFrancesco lapping slower.

All three drivers were two or more seconds off the pace, however, which is an age with the short lap times produced at this venue.

For the second day in a row, Jacob Abel found the wall during his runs. This time he attempted to continue after breaking his second consecutive toe link, which sent him spinning into the wall and doing more damage than the day before.

He and his Dale Coyne Racing crew will need to come up with a game plan to keep a larger margin to the barriers before qualifying later in the day.

Track adjustments

IndyCar worked with track crews overnight to add a strip of new asphalt leading into Turn 3 to help alleviate a large bump in the track that was bothering drivers on Friday.

The result was a bit smoother trip through the hardest braking zone on the track, but multiple drivers still found themselves locking their front wheels when attempting qualifying simulations.

During qualifying later in the day, drivers will surely have trouble with the same bump, which stretches all the way across the track.

Another problematic feature of the Toronto course was slightly improved on Saturday, with the extremely slick track surface beginning to hold grip as more and more rubber has been laid down.

It is still one of the more slippery courses on the calendar, however, and a couple drivers slid sideways and bounced their wheels off the concrete barriers.

Session leader Herta was among those that gathered a bit of concrete dust on the outside of his tires at one point.

Knockout qualifying takes place at 2:30 PM eastern time, giving teams only a few hours to make adjustments after practice concluded.

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IndyCar’s first night race in multiple years served up the action, as fans filled the stands at World Wide Technology Raceway on Sunday night.

Festivities got off to an exciting start, with a large wall of flames filling the sky just behind the back stretch ahead of the green in order to put on a show for the gathered crowd.

David Malukas got the best start, and after a lengthy side by side battle with Will Power, took the early lead.

READ MORE: IndyCar Gateway – Full Race Results

Late in the race, Conor Daly had worked his way to the front of the field. The veteran had started in 15th, but was passing everyone in sight all through the night.

On lap 154, he put pressure on Pato O’Ward for multiple laps until he was finally able to take the top spot.

Daly was shuffled down the order due to an unfortunately timed late caution, however, which ruined his chances at earning his maiden IndyCar win.

The driver that benefitted the most was Kyle Kirkwood, who made his fuel last through to the end of the race and earned his first oval win of his career.

Not only was it Kirkwood’s first oval win, it was his first win on anything other than a street course. He now has three wins on the season and two in a row.

O’Ward crossed the line in second, and Christian Rasmussen earned his first ever IndyCar podium with a fantastic drive from 25th up to third.

Back and forth again

Multiple drivers found themselves bouncing backwards and forwards throughout the night, aided by multiple caution periods, exciting pit stops, and a high line that was working for the drivers.

Rasmussen passed the most drivers of any in the field, racking up 62 on track passes on his way to his first podium.

Scott Dixon finished fourth after starting 11th, and Santino Ferrucci rounded out the top five after starting down in 19th.

It looked like Dixon would take another fuel saving victory late in Sunday’s race, but eventually he had to join multiple others in taking a late splash of fuel with less than 15 laps remaining.

Conor Daly did not have to make a late stop, but he was not able to make up the positions lost to the untimely caution. He finished sixth.

Rinus VeeKay was seventh, and points leader Alex Palou finished eighth after completing a rare weekend where he was not a factor for the podium.

In total, there were 254 passes for position during the race, matching last year’s record at WWTR.

Dangers of close racing

The most dramatic moment of the night came just after the halfway point, when Louis Foster lost control late in the stint and spun down the front stretch.

As he crossed the track, the leader at the time Josef Newgarden had nowhere to go. His #2 Team Penske Chevy was pinched between Foster’s car and the inside pit wall, launching Newgarden into the air.

The two-time series champion flipped upside down, slid down the top of the pit wall, and came to rest on his Aeroscreen just two meters from the finish line.

The AMR safety crew was on scene in an instant, one of the medics launching over the pit wall on foot to attend to Newgarden. Both drivers walked away unhurt thanks to the safety of their cars.

Newgarden is the winningest driver at WWTR and was looking likely to earn a sixth victory on the short oval, but it was not to be.

Team Penske had a tough race all around, with Will Power also retiring after his front tire let go early in the race.

He drifted up into the wall and broke a toe link, which caused him to retire. He finished in last position after starting on pole.

Scott McLaughlin also retired late in the race, reporting trouble with his left rear suspension despite not making contact with anyone.

All three Team Penske drivers qualified in the top five, but none finished the race in what was a woeful showing.

Devlin DeFrancesco also found the wall early, and brought out the first yellow of the night, but he was able to return after his Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing crew fixed his car in the garage area.

Drivers and teams will regroup next weekend for a race at Road America, the longest road course on the calendar.

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Two Andretti Global entries were among the cars that received post-race penalties for last weekend’s Indianapolis 500.

Marcus Ericsson and Kyle Kirkwood were stripped of their second and sixth place finishing positions after the two cars were found to be out of compliance.

IndyCar officials found modified parts of the chassis near the suspension mounting points, which they concluded could potentially have resulted in an aerodynamic advantage.

The initial response by the team on Monday indicated that they were requesting a full review with IndyCar in order to better understand the reason for the penalty.

On Friday morning, after the team had already arrived in Detroit for the next event, the team has now publicly accepted the penalty.

“After careful analysis with IndyCar surrounding the Indianapolis 500 post-race technical violations and penalties on the nos. 27 and 28 cars, we accept the penalties issued and will not pursue further review,” read a statement posted online.

“While we are disappointed in the outcome, we will take the necessary steps to ensure full compliance moving forward and want to thank our fans, crew, and sponsors who continue to support us.

“Our focus now shifts to the future and delivering strong, competitive results on track – beginning this weekend with the Detroit Grand Prix.”

Ericsson and Kirkwood were demoted all the way to 31st and 32nd in the standings, and also were forced to forfeit prize money earned from their initial finishing positions.

Andretti confirmed that team managers for the two entries will not take part in the Detroit GP weekend as part of the penalties levied by IndyCar.

The third driver to receive a penalty post-race was Callum Ilott, although the infraction on his car was located on his front wing and was a completely separate issue.

PREMA accepted the penalty earlier in the week, and has put the incident behind them as well.

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IndyCar tackled the second street course of the young season, contesting a round on the historic streets of Long Beach, California.

Kyle Kirkwood secured his third IndyCar victory after putting in a stellar performance from pole. He held off a late charge from Alex Palou, and won by nearly three seconds.

Christian Lundgaard utilized an alternate tire strategy to move forward from 12th to third, securing his second consecutive podium.

READ MORE: IndyCar Long Beach – Full Race Report

Josef Newgarden was hit with a strange issue that appeared to be related to the tightness of his seat belts. He had to make a couple extra pit stops to correct the issue, and finished in the last position.

Santino Ferrucci was the biggest mover on the day, skipping ahead from the 27th and final starting position all the way to 11th by the end of the race.

Another three week break awaits drivers, then a frenetic stretch of back-to-back weekends begins with a round at Barber Motorsports Park on May 4.

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The historic streets of Long Beach, California hosted the NTT IndyCar Series on Sunday, with the golden anniversary of the event providing a perfect setting for the third race of the 2025 season.  

From the outset, tire strategy was the name of the game. Josef Newgarden was the first to pit in order to get rid of the softer compound, coming down pit lane after just two laps.

Having satisfied the minimum time required on the alternate tire, Newgarden immediately went to work and used a few laps in clean air to make up ground.

READ MORE: IndyCar Long Beach – Full Race Results

The strategy was an immediate benefit, so much so that every other driver that started on the soft tires had taken their first pit stop by lap 10 to abandon the inferior rubber.

The advantage did not last, however, and the drivers that took their stint on the softer rubber later in the race came out ahead.

But because all drivers that started in the top 10 all started on the soft tires, Kyle Kirkwood was able to keep the advantage afforded to him by starting on pole.

Kirkwood felt some pressure from Alex Palou in the final stint, but held him off and claimed his third IndyCar victory and second on the streets of Long Beach.

Not only have all three of Kirkwood’s victories come on street circuits, they have all been done from pole position, which shows how comfortable he is managing a race from the lead.

Palou crossed the line in second place, nearly three seconds adrift. He maintains a healthy point lead on account of his two victories earlier in the year.

Christian Lundgaard rounded out the podium in the #7 Arrow McLaren Chevy, moving forward from 12th in an impressive drive.

He utilized the alternate tire strategy and also found a way past Felix Rosenqvist in the final laps when he was completely out of Push to Pass.

Tire strategy

Other drivers that used the same strategy also came out ahead, with Sting Ray Robb and Kyffin Simpson both moving forward into the top 10.

Santino Ferrucci mastered the tire strategy as well, moving forward considerably from his starting place at the very back of the field.

He used the soft tires for a short stint in the middle of the race and ended in 11th position, a full 16 positions ahead of where he started.

Newgarden’s good start was undone when he suffered a strange problem late in the race, which appeared to be related to loose safety belts inside the cockpit.

The two time champion had to come down pit road two extra times and had one of his crew members practically climb inside with him in order to fix the issue. The problem cost him dearly and he ended the day two laps down in the 27th and final position.

His Team Penske team-mates fared much better, with Will Power and Scott McLaughlin earning the fifth and sixth finishing positions respectively.

There were no cautions during the entire 90 lap event, and no retirements either. It was a straight out strategy fight that benefitted those that started at the head of the field.

Drivers have two more free weekends before returning to action, with a race around the roller coaster Barber Motorsports Park next on the schedule.

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The NTT IndyCar Series completed a knockout qualifying session midday Saturday, with 27 drivers tackling the historic Long Beach street course.

Clouds that were present in the early practice session stuck around for qualifying, resulting in track temps that were cooler than some were expecting.

Those conditions were perfect for Kyle Kirkwood, who stormed to pole with a lap of 1:06.1921.

READ MORE: IndyCar Long Beach – Full Qualifying Results

Kirkwood was locked in throughout all sessions of qualifying and led a group of Andretti Global drivers right through to the front.

In fact, all three of the team’s drivers advanced to the Firestone Fast 6, filling half of the positions on the front three rows.

Colton Herta had to take three fast lap attempts to finally set a good time in the first round, and pushed so hard that he hit the wall and broke his toe link as he crossed the timing line.

His massive effort allowed him to advance all the way through to the final round. Herta had to give up his all-important prep lap due to a late drive-through penalty, which ultimately cost him enough that he lost out on pole.

The gap was less than a quarter of a second, however, and he still earned a spot on the front row.

Alex Palou, as quick as ever, locked in the third starting position, and will roll to the green alongside Felix Rosenqvist in his #60 Meyer Shank Racing Honda.

Marcus Ericsson was the slowest Andretti driver and qualified fifth, just ahead of Scott McLaughlin, who represented the only Chevrolet engine in the final round.

Mistakes prove costly

Pato O’Ward, who touched the wall on Friday, started qualifying with a brand new gearbox after his Arrow McLaren team discovered an anomaly that needed to be addressed.

He advanced to the second round and earned the ninth place starting position.

His team-mate Christian Lundgaard looked set to represent the papaya colors in the final round, but a late mistake pushed his car wide and into the tire barriers.

He dropped to 12th on the grid after taking a penalty for causing a red flag, just behind the third member of the team Nolan Siegel.

Team Penske had a poor qualifying effort for the second race running. At The Thermal Club, all three Penske drivers failed to advance out of the first round and suffered for it during the race.

Again here at Long Beach, Will Power and Josef Newgarden both failed to make it to the second round and will be forced to start from 13th and 15th respectively.

McLaughlin saved face for Team Penske by putting his #3 entry into the Firestone Fast 6, hoping to recover from his disastrous run in Thermal.

Scott Dixon, however, joined a group of veterans that suffered through a less-than-enjoyable Saturday. He was also knocked out in the first round and will start the race from 14th position.

Drivers have one final warm-up session Sunday morning, then will be tasked with 90 laps around the tough street course in the afternoon. The green flag flies at 12:30 PM local time, 4:30PM eastern time.

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Mario Andretti has revealed Sergio Perez “could be an option” for Cadillac as he reiterated the team’s desire to sign a driver who has previous experience in Formula 1.

Perez has been consigned to experiencing a period on the sidelines in 2025 as a disastrous campaign last time around culminated in Red Bull electing to release him.

The Mexican, who had been with Red Bull since 2021, expressed that he would take up to six months to decide whether he wishes to pursue a comeback to the sport.

However, rumours have persisted that he is open to a return with Cadillac, the General Motors-backed squad which will become the latest addition to the grid in 2026.

With Cadillac’s arrival coinciding with sweeping new technical rules being introduced, Perez’s vast race-winning pedigree has seen him touted as a suitable candidate.

Asked whether Perez is among the names under consideration, Andretti, an advisor to Cadillac’s venture, told ESPN: “It’s an option. It could be an option. Of course.”

Andretti has indicated that Cadillac harbours no reservations about Perez’s arduous ending to his time at Red Bull amid the troubles his successor has since endured.

Liam Lawson was chosen to replace Perez in the place alongside Max Verstappen, but the Kiwi’s scoreless start has seen him be demoted two races into the season.

“All I can say is that Liam Lawson is making Checo look very, very good,” Andretti highlighted.

“[Yuki] Tsunoda, you know, I think he probably deserved that seat more than Liam. But who am I?”

Cadillac weighing up three experienced names

However, Andretti has admitted that Cadillac is weighing up numerous options when it comes to the established name that it intends to place alongside an American.

“The second driver, the second seat will definitely be an experienced driver that might be available,” the 1978 F1 champion insisted.

“And we all know that the selection in that regard is pretty clear.

“There may be three drivers to choose from. Three drivers realistically to choose from. And I’m not going to tell you which ones.

“I mean, you know, you look out there and see who’s available, you know, and it’s easy. You can see who has more experience. I’m sure you want experience.

“We’re doing a lot of thinking and I don’t have the final say, but I will have some influence. Again, me, I’m not the total boss, so I don’t make the final decision.”

READ MORE – F1 team bosses hail commercial impact of ‘big brand’ Cadillac

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The NTT IndyCar Series has given a penalty to the #26 Andretti Global entry of Colton Herta following this past weekend’s event at The Thermal Club.

A post-race inspection found that the car’s anti-intrusion plates were incorrectly attached, leading to a potential safety issue with the car.

Details of the technical infringement were released by the series on Wednesday.

“During post-race technical inspection Sunday, IndyCar discovered the team incorrectly attached the anti-intrusion plates on the aft leg of the front lower wishbones by using only one plate per side of the chassis instead of the two per side (a total of four), which were mandated in a Dallara bulletin released Feb. 14, 2025.”

The anti-intrusion panels have been mandatory since 2015 and are meant to prevent broken pieces of the suspension from entering the safety cell of the cockpit during a crash.

Because the issue was not due to driver error and was not a performance advantage, but rather a product of the team’s preparation of the car, Herta himself was not given a penalty.

He keeps the 32 driver points he received for finishing in fourth place on Sunday and was not disqualified from the results.

Andretti Global was given a fine for $25,000, however, and will forfeit 10 entrant points and all prize money associate with the race.

“We have received the penalty notice for Car 26 at Thermal and have discussed the findings with IndyCar,” read Andretti’s statement regarding the penalty.

“While we disagree with the assessment, we will accept the penalty and move forward.”

Herta remains in eighth position in the driver points standings after two rounds of the 2025 season, but the #26 entry falls to 10th in the entrant standings.

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Three weeks after the season-opening round in St. Petersburg, the NTT IndyCar Series reconvened at The Thermal Club for the second round of the year.

The private club course in Southern California has hosted the series for the past two years, but not as a points paying round.

IndyCar completed a pre-season test at the winding course in 2023, and then held an exhibition event with a $1 million prize in 2024.

Drivers took to the 3.067-mile track on Friday afternoon in a standard practice session format, coming to grips with how the still-new hybrid power system would affect their cars.

After the main 45-minute session and both split session were completed, it was Alex Palou that found himself on the top of the charts.

The Spaniard has been on a tear over the past couple years, and once again showed that it is him versus the rest of the field nearly every weekend.

Palou set a fast time of 1:40.5486, averaging 109.81 MPH around the lengthy course.

Although Palou was the fastest overall, the team that looked quickest on Friday afternoon was Andretti Global.

Kyle Kirkwood was only 0.09 seconds slower than the fast time, and Marcus Ericsson was only 0.19 seconds further down the order with the third fastest time overall.

Colton Herta joined his team-mates as well, setting the fourth fastest time and completing an impressive showing by the Andretti squad.

Rounding out the top five was Christian Rasmussen, who continues to be impressive in his Ed Carpenter Racing Chevy.

Drivers all throughout the grid were making early observations that even the harder compound tire seemed to only last for one flying lap before falling off massively.

If that trend continues through the weekend and rubber does not work its way into the rough track surface, there could be difficult pit stop decisions to make come Sunday.

Disruptions on track

Nearly halfway through the main 45-minute session, the red flag came out when Robert Shwartzman stopped on course.

As he climbed from his #83 PREMA Chevy, it became clear that there was a small fire burning near the rear attenuator.

The AMR safety crew arrived on scene and quickly attended to the fire, but had to spend a few minutes dissecting the engine bay and it appeared that considerable damage was done deep inside the rear of the car.

It was revealed that a fuel issue was the cause of the fire, with a new engine, hybrid unit, and backup chassis being required for the remainder of the weekend.

Shwartzman was forced to stop on his very first lap, meaning he ended the day with less than half a lap under his belt.

The lost time meant that the other 26 drivers all headed out on track at the same time following the stoppage.

Devlin DeFrancesco then cost the field a bit more time as well when he pulled off to the side of the road near the end of the first split session.

Felix Rosenqvist took a high speed trip through the dirt while pushing hard, but was able to keep his Meyer Shank Honda out of the barriers.

A couple other drivers dipped their tires off the edge of the road, but nobody else was far enough off line to completely leave the racing surface.

A second practice session is scheduled for 10:00 AM local time on Saturday, with knockout qualifying taking place at 2:00 in the afternoon (5:00 PM eastern time).

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