Jacques Villeneuve raises serious questions over Cadillac F1 entry

Cadillac's arrival on the F1 grid for the 2026 season has been long coming and is highly anticipated, with the championship returning to 11 teams for the first time in a decade.

The American outfit is the sole survivor of the FIA's tender process and had to overcome substantial hurdles to ultimately attain the required approval from Formula 1.

Significant changes and comprehensive restructuring of its application were needed for the series to green-light the General Motors-backed project, and whilst progress is being rapidly made ahead of its debut campaign, numerous tasks remain, such as finalising its driver line-up.

Unsurprisingly, there is considerable intrigue surrounding the fledgling squad. One such person is 1997 F1 drivers' champion Jacques Villeneuve, who helped launch an American team during his own career.

The Canadian joined BAR (British-American Racing), which had purchased the old Tyrrell outfit and is now Mercedes, from Williams at the start of the 1999 season, so he is watching developments with a keen eye.

Sharing his thoughts, as part of an exclusive interview with RacingNews365, Villeneuve highlighted some of the major questions the project must ask of itself over the coming months.

"Who knows what's going on there," the 11-time grand prix winner mused. "It's not the same team as a year ago.

"The whole project has changed, and the way it came in, forcefully, is not the best way either, but at least now they're in, fine.

"The question is, what will they do? What drivers will they choose? Who do they put in place?"

The driver conundrum

Whilst hopes will not be sky high to begin with, given the financial weight and not-insignificant backing from owners' GM and TWG Global, it will not be long before Cadillac will be expected to perform.

Villeneuve highlighted how new teams can succeed. The 54-year-old pointed to the renaissance season Stake is enjoying on the eve of becoming the works Audi team.

"When you look at what Sauber has done, with Audi coming in, [with] Jonathan Wheatley, you already see the results now, even though it's the same car," he stated.

"Just the way the energy, the working... So you can expect great things there."

However, much of Cadillac's story remains to be established, with Villeneuve also highlighting that much will depend on the performance of the Ferrari power unit, which the team will use for at least its first three seasons, despite its long-term aspirations to, like Audi, become a manufacturer.

"We don't know with Cadillac yet," he added. "They say they want experienced drivers, right? But you want good, experienced drivers...

"The other thing, we have no idea which engine will be good, that's a big... Well, okay, we'll find out."

Cadillac were expected to have confirmed at least half of its driver line-up by this stage, but it remains to be seen whether the team will opt for two experienced hands or aim for balance in a blend with youth.

It remains unclear which young talents are currently best-positioned to claim one of the seats if it does pursue that avenue, but on the experienced side of the equation, Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas look the most likely candidates - even more so if Cadillac decides to forgo a young driver with potential.

Either way, Villeneuve believes the American squad will need to stump up if it wants to secure a "pure racer", as he calls them.

The Canadian explained how he believes that less and less there are drivers in F1 who have a genuine, deep-rooted passion for racing, and that more and more, there are those who are enamoured with what racing represents.

When it was put to him that it might, therefore, be difficult for Cadillac to find a driver of that ilk, Villeneuve argued it was all about money.

"Depends on how much money they put on the table," he said. "Because you want to get one of those drivers [a pure racer], you're a new team, you need to put [down] a big cheque.

"But with the value of F1 now, the big cheque is nothing. It's peanuts compared to what it used to be."