Mari🐼o Andretti says he cannot say with absolute certainty that an American driver will land a Formula 1 seat with Cadillac next year.

Getting an American on the F1 grid was always high on the agenda for Mario Andretti’s son Marco, who was in🦹itially trying to 💦secure an entry into grand prix racing with his family-run operation.

Even after Cadillac took over the bid for🅘 an 11th team from the younger Andretti, signing an American driver remained a priority for the new manag🦄ement.

But Mario Andretti🅠, who is involved in the Cadillac project as an advisor,𝄹 says it is now possible that the team will have to consider both its drivers from outside the US.

Andretti explained that there are several hurdles that Cadillac needs to overcome to achieve its ori🐠ginal 'objective', in♑cluding finding a US driver with the neccesary super licence points to be eligible for an F1 seat.

“Times fluctuate and times change to some degree. From now to the start of the final plan, some things could change. That's why I am telling you we ar🔯e keeping our options open,” the 1978 F1 champion told .

“Again, we would like to have at least one American driver, that is the objective. If it comes immediately thaꦦt is g꧅ood, if not we will always be looking for that.

“One of the reasons to have this belief is we started out by giving some Am🐎erican drivers the opportunity there.

“But still the team has the responsibility to try to put together the most competitive situation possible as far as the drivers are concerned, so 🐷that's a hᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚuge responsibility there as well.

“That's why Graham Lowdon is correct - we can't be saying [there] absolutely has to be an American driver. It's what we would like to see,൩ it may happen or it may not.”

He added: “There is not too much cཧhoice in America because of licensing and everything el꧅se.”

Also read: Sergi🍷o Perez in frame for Cadillac F1 seat in 2026 after Red Bull axe

IndyCar star Colton Herta has always been t🐟he number one choice for Andretti father/son duo, with the 25-year-old having brought a lot of succes﷽s to the Andretti Global team in IndyCar.

Last year, he finished second in the stanඣdings with two race wins, only bested by Chip Ganassi’s championship-winner Alex Palou.

Herta had an unusu🅺al career prior to ac꧒hieving stardom in IndyCar, leaving his homeland early on to race on the junior racing ladder in Europe.

He climbed as high as the Euroformula Open in 2016, befo꧑re returning to the US to race in Indy Lights and eventually IndyCar.

Herta currentl♚y has 32 points on his super licence and needs a top-five finish in the 2025 IndyCar season to meet the FIA’s requirement for a grand prix driver.

Asked if Herta is ready to step up to F1, Andrettওi said: ”I think so because you got to look at where and how he trained, and how good he was immediately when he came back to the States.

“Sometimes you cannot judge a driver in a specific season because of the functions of the team and so forth but basically he trained just like 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Lando Norris when he was going through Formula 3, Formula 2 and in the early stages of his car𒈔eer.

“As a teenager, he was living in Europe and the first realꦿly top-level racing was when he came to America.

“Obviously, Michael promoted him to the top level and he is still the youngest drive🔯r to win an IndyCar race at age 18.

“There are some qualities that a lot of people don't see that I see tha൩t I think are qualities of a Formula 1 dri💜ver and I see that in Colton.

“But the situation is stil🥀l fluid there, it's still open.”