The Cadillac F1 Team has quickly revealed the key players of their 2026 Formula 1 driver pool over the past six weeks. First up was their driver lineup of Valtteri Bottas and Sergio “Checo” Perez. And next was the shock move of Colton Herta from IndyCar to a Cadillac Test Driver.
Now, in a series of social media posts released today, the team of drivers behind the 2026 car development has been revealed.
Cadillac has welcomed Pietro Fittipaldi, Simon Pagenaud, and Charlie Eastwood to their team to run simulations on the 2026 F1 Car entry and entire race weekend simulations throughout the 2025 development year.
Cadillac’s Sim Drivers Offer a F1, IndyCar, and Endurance Experience
It’s rare for a Simulator Driver lineup to turn heads, but this one does. Cadillac has built out a talent pool that sets them apart from their F1 rivals in a unique blend of diverse driving experience and raw skill.
Pietro Fittipaldi is a former F1 Driver, having raced with Haas F1 and served as their reserve and test driver for several years. He also raced for three seasons in IndyCar and has raced in several Endurance and Sportscar Championships including WEC, IMSA, and ELMS.
When asked about his involvement with the Cadillac F1 Project, Pietro shared his excitement for the new challenge.
“Very happy to finally announce that I’m a part of the Cadillac F1 Team. We’ve been working together for a few months, and it has been amazing to part of a project of this scale and be part of a brand as iconic as Cadillac. All of the work we’ve been doing is fully focused on the development of the 2026 F1 Car. There are obviously new regulations for everybody next year, but the bigger challenge for the Cadillac F1 Team is that it’s a completely new team. New people working together and everyone trying to understand how the workflow is going to be.”
Pietro Fittipaldi Cadillac F1 Sim Driver
Simon Pagenaud is the 2016 IndyCar Series Champion and 2019 Indianapolis 500 Winner. He simultaneously competed in IMSA, winning the 24 Hours of Daytona twice. Pagenaud, although French, is considered a present era ‘legend’ of the American racing scene even after his 2023 retirement from racing full-time.
Charlie Eastwood currently competes in the World Endurance Championship, having taken home a win just last week at the 6 hours of Fuji. Eastwood has raced in Sportscars for nearly a decade and has served as a Mercedes F1 Sim Driver until the start of the 2025 Season – when he presumably moved to Cadillac F1.
Cadillac Is Laying the Groundwork for a Standout F1 Debut
It goes without saying that the resume of every driver publicly involved in the Cadillac F1 Project offers a wealth of diverse racing experience. By assembling one of the strongest possible lineups – particularly in test and simulator roles – Cadillac is positioning themself for immediate impact in 2026.
Cadillac Team Principal, Graeme Lowdon, shared with F1 Fans on the Italian Grand Prix broadcast that the team has approached a new entry to Formula 1 with what some would consider complete ‘immersion’.
He remarked that the team runs entire race weekend simulations from press, to qualifying, to the actual race with their Sim Drivers who have now been revealed.
While Graeme commented on their race weekend Simulator Process from the paddock in Monza, Fittipaldi was on the ground in Charlotte.
“We’ve been doing a lot of simulator testing. We’ve been simulating full race weekends. For example, the most recent one was myself and Simon Pagenaud. We were doing the Monza F1 Race weekend. We did the full race weekend as if we were on track… even with the same briefing times, team manager meetings, everything from the GM Tech Center, here in Charlotte. They flew out all UK-based Race and Performance engineers to Charlotte. Simon and I went through all procedures and all meetings on the same time table as Monza. If the session was 9 AM in Monza, we were on the simulator here in Charlotte at 3 AM, ready to go.”
Pietro Fittipaldi Cadillac F1 Sim Driver
Since the Monza Race weekend, Cadillac has shared images and videos on social media of their full time driver, Sergio Perez, on the sim as well.
The inclusion of proven names like Fittipaldi, Pagenaud, and Eastwood demonstrate that Cadillac isn’t treating 2026 as a ‘slow-build’ debut as F1 fans have seen in the past. This lineup signals that Cadillac’s aim is to reshape expectations for what a new entrant can achieve in Formula 1.
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KAITLIN TUCCI
Kaitlin Tucci has been a fan of motorsport for close to a decade. Before joining On SI in 2025, she contributed heavily to the marketing and media efforts at FanAmp, a motorsports startup for which she was the Head of Marketing. She has contributed to a number of publications covering series such as Formula 1, IndyCar, IMSA, and more… Kaitlin graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with both a degree in Business/Marketing and Political Science. She works full time as a marketer at high-growth tech startups while spending her weekends immersed in the world of racing. Kaitlin was raised in Las Vegas, Nevada, but has lived in New York City for the past 5 years with her ‘giant chihuahua’ Willow. You’ll often catch Willow watching races alongside Kaitlin, but unfortunately she doesn’t have enough airline miles to join her at the track just yet.