Cadillac F1 signs IndyCar champion in latest driver announcement

While Cadillac F1 may have announced its driver line-up for the 2026 season, the American team is making further headway in fleshing out its key behind-the-scenes players with several high-profile simulator announcements.

Key among these signings is Simon Pagenaud, a former IndyCar champion and victor of the prestigious Indianapolis 500. Joining him will be Pietro Fittipaldi and Charlie Eastwood.

Cadillac F1 bolsters line-up with simulator signings

Incoming American race team Cadillac F1 has already confirmed that Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez will flesh out their driver line-up for the outfit’s 2026 debut in a critical move that prioritized experience in its inaugural season, while the signing of America’s Colton Herta as a test drive signaled an investment for the future.

Now, the outfit has added several other high-profile drivers to its roster: Simon Pagenaud, Pietro Fittipaldi, and Charlie Eastwood.

These drivers will serve as simulator drivers, meaning they’ll be hard at work back at Cadillac’s various factories and headquarters making tweaks to the at-track machinery throughout a weekend.

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The major announcement here is Pagenaud, who spent over a decade competing in the American IndyCar series. His most successful seven years in the sport were spent with the inimitable Team Penske, with whom he won the 2016 championship as well as the 2019 Indianapolis 500.

Pagenaud’s active racing career came to an end following a dramatic crash at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course that saw his Meyer Shank Racing machine flip several times, leaving him with lingering injuries that prevented him from continuing his career behind the wheel. However, he made a return to Team Penske to serve as an advisor, particularly in assisting former Supercars driver Scott McLaughlin to find his footing in open-wheel racing.

“Optimizing the technical side of a car and managing relationships with the people in the factory has been my passion ever since I started racing,” Pagenaud said in an official Cadillac release.

“I really enjoy talking to the engineers, developing the simulator, and making it as realistic as possible. This work gives me a feeling of being useful and bringing in my expertise, something that was missing somehow since my accident.”

Pagenaud won’t be the only simulator driver. Joining him will be Pietro Fittipaldi, grandson of two-time F1 champion Emerson Fittipaldi and reserve driver for Haas. The Brazilian-American had two outings behind the wheel of an F1 machine in 2020 when he replaced an injured Romain Grosjean following his tragic, fiery accident at the 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix.

“I’m very proud to finally share that I’ve joined the Cadillac F1 Team as the simulator driver. We have been working together on the development of the team’s 2026 F1 car through simulator testing and full race weekend simulations,” Fittipaldi said.

“It’s a privilege to contribute my experience to a project of this scale and to be part of a brand as iconic as Cadillac.”

Joining the duo is Charlie Eastwood, an Irish Corvette factory driver in endurance racing categories who has taken class victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans as well as a class championship victory in the European Le Mans championship.

In his announcement on Instagram, Eastwood wrote, “I will be able to contribute to [Cadillac’s] Formula 1 entry by supporting the team through simulator work and development programs leaning on past experiences.”

Simulator drivers are a critical element of modern Formula 1. On-track time is extremely limited, with formal on-track Grand Prix sessions and a handful of sanctioned days available at the start of the season. This offers very little time for the F1 drivers themselves to test new components or attempt different race strategies.

That’s where simulator drivers come in. Back at the team’s factory, these drivers can hop in a Driver-in-Loop simulator that features 3D scans of all F1 tracks and detailed virtual models of the cars in question.

This allows sim drivers to test new set-ups, car components, strategies, and more. This data is analyzed by a team at the factory, with major insights sent over to the at-track team, who can then make necessary tweaks to their run program.

Simulators are not perfect, which is why discerning sim drivers are critical in making key alterations.

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