franco colapinto

General Motors-backed Cadillac is set to join the Formula 1 circus after an initially rejected bid using the Andretti name. They will enter in 2026 as an engine customer team before using their own engine by 2028 if, hopefully, they remain in the sport by that season. This announcement came very much as a surprise due to the withdrawal of Michael Andretti, although his father Mario will remain as a director. The talk of who will be behind the wheel of the two cars will begin in late 2024 and 2025. Who are the most likely based on what we know currently? The chance ratings are my personal thoughts.

Colton Herta

Colton is American and currently drives for Team Andretti in Indycar, the F1 team may not have the Andretti badge but is this a chance for a return for the name? Colton finished P2 in the 2024 Indycar championship, winning the season finale, and is in great form. The investor of the new F1 team, Dan Towriss, is a big fan of him, which may put him in pole position as long as he gets enough super license points from the FIA, as the Indycar Series is absurdly underrated. If he has a strong 2025, there would be no issue.

Chance: 9/10

Alex Palou

Álex Palou celebrating in victory lane with his team (Photo by Travis Hinkle/Penske Entertainment)

Alex is the 2024 Indycar Champion and has been reportedly in talks with 3 teams in the past couple of seasons, Mclaren, Sauber & Red Bull, but none of them have ever materialised. He made one free practice appearance with McLaren in 2022 at the United States GP and was the reserve driver in 2023 doing the mid-season tyre test. He also competes for the Cadillac team in the IMSA series. A strong chance for Alex to be one of the few champions in America to move to F1.

Chance: 8/10

Jak Crawford

As Formula E reserve driver for Andretti for the 2024-25 season, he already has some links to the team. He also has a solid link with F1 as an Aston Martin development and current Formula 2 driver. He is due to partake in the end of season test with Aston Martin.

It could be a chance for Cadillac to take a driver from a rival who will continue to grow in confidence; he is only 19 presently, so skills will ever improve.

Chance: 7/10

Checo Perez

Pole position qualifier Sergio Perez Grand Prix of Saudi Arabia (Photo by Lars Baron/Getty Images)

If the team goes for one experienced driver and one rookie, then look no further. If Red Bull decided to drop Checo for 2025 or 2026 due to his current form, then this could be his way to stay in the sport. As a probable midfield team, he could thrive, similar to his years racing for Sauber, Force India & Racing Point. As a new team, they may seek experience, and as a driver currently in his 14th season, from the Americas, could this be a fit? Perez for the last couple of months hasn’t been at his best, but sometimes a driver in the twilight years of his career needs a new challenge.

Chance: 7/10

Franco Colapinto

The shock of the year, when Logan Sargeant was given his marching orders, the Argentine was calm and collected, as he has performed well against new teammate Albon. The current situation is that there is no room for him in the upcoming 2025 F1 season. After initial success, he has made a few errors, costing Williams dearly. Cadillac could consider Colopinto with his few races of experience that excited the paddock, who is no longer a rookie after a great start to his career.

Chance: 6/10

Valtteri Bottas

An experienced driver in his 13th season, Bottas has lost his seat at Stake F1, aka Audi, for the 2025 season. So what’s next for him? While he waits for official confirmation, he has started a charity for families who suddenly lose their jobs called… ‘What’s Next?’. In F1, however, he has experience in the dominant Mercedes and midfield Willams teams, which gives him insight a new team like Cadillac will need.

Chance: 5/10

Jack Aitken

Aitken has competed with Cadillac in the IMSA Sportscar Championship and in the 24 hours of Le Mans for last 2 years, and he is due to compete for them in 2025. He has been a member of 2 junior programs in Renault (2016-20) & Williams (2020-22). In 2020, he did Free Practice 1 in Austria and drove for Williams during the Sakhir Grand Prix. He held the reserve role for Wiiliams until 2022 before moving to Sportscar Racing. He may have a relationship with Cadillac, but his chance in F1 could have gone.

Chance: 2/10

There are a few drivers in the mix, and there could be further added to this list. This team have been given the opportunity to extend the grid to 22 cars for the first time since 2016, when Manor Racing were on the grid. The good thing is that two teams are joining in Audi & Cadillac/GM and a fresh canvas of rules, so hopefully not a team sitting at the back.

Victor Martins took victory in the first Formula 3 feature race of the year in Bahrain, while Prema’s Arthur Leclerc stormed through the field from well outside the points to finish on the podium.

The race began with Franco Colapinto and Van Amersfoort on a debut pole, with Roman Stanek alongside for Trident and Martins in third. The top three held position at lights out, but Leclerc made up five places at the launch to go from thirteenth to eighth.

Behind the top three however, the first corner quickly became chaotic as Zane Maloney in fourth suddenly lost drive and became an obstacle for the chasing pack. Oliver Bearman and Caio Collet were two of the drivers who had to run wide to avoid the Trident, and when Collet rejoined the track he broke his right front suspension and was forced to retire. Francesco Pizzi was also caught up in the incident and retired as well.

The safety car was deployed while the stricken cars at Turn 1 were recovered. When the race got underway again on lap 5 Colapinto went weaving down the main straight to break the tow for Stanek behind. But instead of challenging for the lead Stanek found himself under attack from Martins, who stole past the Trident into second at the first corner.

Franco Colapinto, Van Amersfoort (Dan Istitene, Formula Motorsport Limited via Getty Images / FIA F3)

Stanek then had to defend again from Alex Smolyar in fourth. As Stanek ran Smolyar to the edge of the track to hold third place, Smolyar made contact with Stanek’s rear right tyre and triggered a puncture for the Trident.

With Smolyar dropping to the back of the field, Leclerc moved up to seventh place. That then became fifth on lap 7 as he despatched first Isack Hadjar and then David Vidales. Leclerc soon found himself on the rear of the podium battle as Smolyar was passed for third by Juan Manuel Correa. On lap 10 Leclerc picked off Smolyar for fourth, then a lap later he passed Correa as well to move up into third place.

Smolyar continued to come under pressure from the cars behind. But when Hadjar made a move on him for fifth place they made contact similar to Smolyar’s incident with Stanek, and Hadjar also came off with a rear right puncture that dropped him out of the points.

Meanwhile at the front of the field, Martins was shadowing Colapinto with only half a second between the two. By lap 14 Martins brought that down to two tenths, but had to wait until the start of the following lap to make a move. After first trying the outside of Turn 1, Martins took advantage of Colapinto running deep into the following corner to cut back through and take the lead down to Turn 4.

Arthur Leclerc, Prema (Clive Mason, Getty Images / FIA F3)

By the time Martins assumed the lead, Leclerc had managed to slash his five-second gap to the front and was running just half a second behind Colapinto. On lap 18 Leclerc then made a late dive on the brakes to the inside of Turn 1, and snatched second place away from the Van Amersfoort.

Colapinto’s race began to unfold in the final stages after that. With Gregoire Saucy pressuring him for third place and his tyres seeming to fall away from him, Colapinto picked up several warnings for exceeding track limits which eventually became a five-second time penalty. Colapinto was able to hold off Saucy on the road, but the penalty dropped him down to fifth and moved Saucy up to third to complete the podium.

Correa followed Saucy home to make it three ARTs in the top four, and Leclerc’s Prema teammates Bearman and Jak Crawford finished sixth and seventh behind Colapinto. Smolyar was in the points until the very end of the race when floor damage dropped him down the field, meaning that Vidales, William Alatalo and Kaylen Frederick rounded out the final points positions.

(Dan Istitene. Formula Motorsport Limited via Getty Images / FIA F3)

The results of the feature race mean Martins leads the championship after Round 1 with 25 points, with Arthur Leclerc a point behind in second and Oliver Bearman in third on 17 points. ART lead the teams’ standings with 54 points, followed by Prema on 47.

Formula 3 returns on 22–24^th April at Imola in support of the Formula 1 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

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Cadillac/GM Driver Thoughts

F3 Bahrain: Martins sweeps to victory as Leclerc charges through the field