Formula 1 teams are testing in Bahrain right now ahead of the 2025 season, but there's already plenty of attention on the 2026 season which will feature new regulations that will bring big changes to the cars, new engine suppliers, and perhaps biggest of all, a new 11th team, Cadillac F1.

And this week, the team's CEO Dan Towriss discussed the plans for their maiden driver lineup.

Towriss said that the team — which will be managed by TWG Global, owner of Andretti Global — hopes to have at least one American driver in the lineup, but he said that it won't be as simple as grabbing someone who races under the Stars and Stripes.

"I think we would love to see an American driver in Formula 1 but we certainly want to make sure we do it the right way," Towriss said per Sky Sports. "I think it's crucially important that that person is set up for success. It won't be a process of just grabbing an American and sticking him behind the wheel. We want to do it proper, and so more to come on that."

Cadillac F1 CEO Dan Towriss discussed that team's plans for selecting a driver lineup for their debut Formula 1 season.

There aren't too many Americans with F1 experience. One is former Williams driver Logan Sargeant, but given his underwhelming form at WIlliams, that doesn't seem likely.

The other is IndyCar driver Alexander Rossi, who is entering his first season at Ed Carpenter Racing this season, and again — despite his success in IndyCar — that seems like a bit of a longshot.

So that means any other American whether they come from F2 or somewhere else — Andretti IndyCar driver Colton Herta is often brought up — they won't have any F1 experience, which means that experience will need to come from this hypothetical American driver's teammate.

"Certainly I think an experienced driver is crucial for setting up a new team from that standpoint, so we're definitely looking at bringing some experience to the driver tandem, Towriss said. "There are a number of American drivers who have experience in the lower Formula series. So that's not Formula 1 but there are drivers that know the tracks and have been in the lower Formula series, grew up there.

"So, we'll work on that and we'll see what comes up."

The "experienced" seat might be a bit easier to fill. There are some solid names on the beach right now without full-time drives. Sergio Perez, Daniel Ricciardo, Valtteri Bottas, Kevin Magnussen, and Zhou Guanyu are just a few options and all of them have race experiences dating to just this past season.