Cadillac nearing decision on Herta as Budkowski refuses to confirm 2027 driver lineup

Cadillac team principal Marcin Budkowski refused to confirm that the team's current driver lineup is under contract for 2027 at the United States Grand Prix as Colton Herta retains hopes of a Formula 1 seat.

Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas were both announced under the title of leading the team in its debut season, but the drivers had given the impression they were on multi-year deals. While Perez is understood to have had conversations regarding a new contract with Cadillac, Bottas’ situation is seen as less secure, with team CEO Dan Towriss having been keen to provide Herta with a race seat at some stage in future.

“As a team principal, and I’m sure it’s the same with my colleagues, you’re getting calls and contacts from every driver or driver manager that is on the market,” Budkowski said. “So, there are a number of drivers and managers who have contacted me. I’m not going to say who it is or who it isn’t, but pretty much all of them that are on the market have been in touch, as you’d expect.

“But yes, I think it’s the last place here, as you can imagine, where I would communicate anything on driver line-up. My marketing and communications department would kill me if I did that!”

Asked to confirm both Bottas and Perez have contracts for next season, Budkowski reiterated: “This is the last place I would comment on driver contracts, and in general, I think it’s not something that is done in the press.

“It’s something which will be done by official releases from the team when the time is right.”

Herta made his latest FP1 appearance at Circuit of the Americas on Friday and says he hopes to have clarity over his future in the coming weeks.

“I think it's the same goal, I want to be in Formula 1,” Herta told RACER. “I want to put the work in and do what I can to show and prove that I deserve and belong here. So, that's kind of where we're at, working with the team, trying to improve my craft and trying to progress the car as well. But, yeah, for sure, ideally be in the F1 car.

“I don't know what the timeline is. For me, the earlier the better. I want to get in as soon as possible. So obviously I would like to get in for next year. How possible is that? I don't know. You'd probably have to ask the bosses. But for me, it's the sooner the better.

“I hope in the next few weeks to kind of figure it out and understand what the plan looks like for next year and see if it's concrete. But we've got a lot to figure out until then.”

After earning another Super License point with his latest outing in Austin, bringing him to a total of 38, Herta says he is getting more comfortable with each appearance in F1 machinery.

“Oh, it's awesome. It's so good to be back in the US and to drive a Formula 1 car around COTA, it's great. And so I’m just super happy with how it went. Every time I get in this car it feels stronger and I feel stronger and the progress is clear on both sides. So I feel very, very happy with how today went.”