{"id":27459,"date":"2024-12-01T14:11:11","date_gmt":"2024-12-01T19:11:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/?p=27459"},"modified":"2024-12-01T17:22:21","modified_gmt":"2024-12-01T22:22:21","slug":"zhou-guanyu-an-early-candidate-to-join-cadillac-f1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2024\/12\/01\/zhou-guanyu-an-early-candidate-to-join-cadillac-f1\/","title":{"rendered":"Zhou Guanyu an early candidate to join Cadillac F1"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2024\/11\/21\/zhou-guanyu-in-talks-with-several-f1-teams-for-2025-role\/\" target=\"_self\">Zhou Guanyu<\/a> put together a brilliant performance to finish 8th at the Qatar GP. Zhou&#8217;s points finish is not the only good news for the Chinese driver, who is understood to be an option for Cadillac F1 in 2026.<\/p>\n<h2>Why Zhou is well-positioned to negotiate with Cadillac F1 ahead of 2026<\/h2>\n<p>Like most drivers without a seat for next year, Zhou Guanyu welcomed the news of an 11th team in F1.<\/p>\n<p>Heading into the 2026 season, Cadillac will be in negotiations with several drivers wanting to join their line-up.<\/p>\n<p>As a driver with several years of F1 experience, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2024\/08\/13\/zhou-guanyu-reveals-2025-f1-chances\/\" target=\"_self\">Zhou<\/a> is already a feasible option.<\/p>\n<p>His latest result in Qatar (which came after a strong race in Vegas) was a reminder of what the 25-year-old is capable of in competitive machinery.<\/p>\n<p>However, there is another critical factor that could boost his chances.<\/p>\n<h4>Zhou on Cadillac&#8217;s radar for 2026<\/h4>\n<p>According to Swiss outlet <a href=\"https:\/\/www.blick.ch\/sport\/formel1\/super-max-holt-pole-mclaren-titelfavorit-vergeigt-audi-sauber-auch-diese-chance-id20370323.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Blick<\/a>, Graeme Lowdon is set to become Cadillac F1&#8217;s team principal.<\/p>\n<p>This is significant for Zhou, because Lowdon is part of his management team.<\/p>\n<p>Should Lowdon (who was formerly Marussia&#8217;s team principal) take the helm at <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2024\/11\/28\/valtteri-bottas-cadillac-f1-entry-is-good-news-for-2026\/\" target=\"_self\">Cadillac<\/a>, this would be a massive boost for Zhou&#8217;s chances of returning to F1.<\/p>\n<p>At this stage, there is still a long way before the American outfit decide on their 2026 line-up.<\/p>\n<p>Even <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2024\/11\/26\/colton-herta-a-leading-candidate-for-2026-general-motors-seat\/\" target=\"_self\">Colton Herta<\/a>, whose links with Andretti are extremely strong, needs to secure the necessary Super License points before being eligible.<\/p>\n<p>In this context, the road back to Formula 1 is a long one for Zhou Guanyu. There will be several drivers in talks with Cadillac over the coming months to secure a place on the grid.<\/p>\n<p>With that said, things are coming together nicely for the Chinese driver. His reputation for being a solid, consistent driver is being improved with his strong end to the season.<\/p>\n<p>Although Zhou would have preferred a more competitive package earlier in the year, he is capitalising immediately on his upgraded C44.<\/p>\n<p>As he considers <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2024\/11\/16\/f1-news-zhou-guanyu-in-talks-to-become-ferrari-reserve-driver\/\" target=\"_self\">a reserve driver role for 2025<\/a>, plenty more developments can be expected in the coming months.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Zhou Guanyu put together a brilliant performance to finish 8th at the Qatar GP. Zhou&#8217;s points finish is not the only good news for the Chinese driver, who is understood to be an option for Cadillac F1 in 2026. Why Zhou is well-positioned to negotiate with Cadillac F1 ahead of 2026 Like most drivers without [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4927,"featured_media":27465,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[2220,1986,465,2331],"class_list":["post-27459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-formula-1","category-news","tag-2024-formula-1-season","tag-cadillac","tag-f1-news","tag-zhou"],"modified_by":"Jaden Diaz-Ndisang","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4927"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27459"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27459\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}