The Official F1 2026 silly season *contains speculation*

[ThingsBehindTheSun]

Teppic said:

Zhou's cat is called Sweetcorn. Hence a picture of a cats eye with 24 (Zhou's number) and the Cadillac logo.

Zhou will be announced as Cadillac's third driver on Monday.

I guess having a reserve driver who doesn't even have a super licence wasn't the best idea?

[Jonnny]

TheDeuce said:

Whatever the connection is, Lotus are definitely not buying Audi.

Maybe using the Lotus name as a link back to the Lotus F1 days..?

[carl_w]

Teppic said:

Cadillac have posted this:



Zhou's cat is called Sweetcorn. Hence a picture of a cats eye with 24 (Zhou's number) and the Cadillac logo.

Zhou will be announced as Cadillac's third driver on Monday.

Looks more like 71 to me?

[TrevorHill]

Is it too much to ask that Ferrari be at least competitive next season? Maybe rest Lewis and give the tea lady a drive instead while they are at it.

[vaud]

Tea? In Italy?

Intravenous espresso maybe…

[carl_w]

Teppic said:

Cadillac have posted this:



Zhou's cat is called Sweetcorn. Hence a picture of a cats eye with 24 (Zhou's number) and the Cadillac logo.

Zhou will be announced as Cadillac's third driver on Monday.

It's the eye of a wily old fox and the number is 14 upside down: Alonso will be announced at Cadillac on Monday.

[Still Mulling]

vaud said:

Tea? In Italy?

Intravenous espresso maybe

It won’t work. It’ll all be in vein.

[Teppic]

carl_w said:

Teppic said:

Cadillac have posted this:



Zhou's cat is called Sweetcorn. Hence a picture of a cats eye with 24 (Zhou's number) and the Cadillac logo.

Zhou will be announced as Cadillac's third driver on Monday.

Looks more like 71 to me?

The 71 is a window reflection.

[ajprice]

Cadillac will have Ferrari engines, so Zhou coming over from being at Ferrari makes sense.

[carl_w]

Teppic said:

The 71 is a window reflection.

Thanks, eyesight isn't getting any better!

[732NM]

ajprice said:

Cadillac will have Ferrari engines, so Zhou coming over from being at Ferrari makes sense.

He's there for marketing in China, just as he was at Ferrari.

[thegreenhell]

Zhou confirmed at Cadillac.

[DanielSan]

A cryptic social media post for a reserve driver. Can tell it's slow news season

[Supersam83]

DanielSan said:

A cryptic social media post for a reserve driver. Can tell it's slow news season

To be fair most of the sports news today is around Football and the sacking of the Manchester United manager and also Celtic manager this afternoon...

Do Cadillac sell many vehicles in China? Especially as they are going fully EV at the moment over there.

[732NM]

Supersam83 said:

To be fair most of the sports news today is around Football and the sacking of the Manchester United manager and also Celtic manager this afternoon...

Do Cadillac sell many vehicles in China? Especially as they are going fully EV at the moment over there.

AI "Cadillac is a significant luxury player in China, focusing heavily on an electrified future with models like the LYRIQ, OPTIQ, VISTIQ, and the performance-oriented LYRIQ-V, often debuting unique models and features exclusive to the Chinese market, like the next-gen XT5, emphasizing advanced tech and luxury features such as massive curved screens and premium interiors to compete with local and international brands. "

[Still Mulling]

Supersam83 said:

Do Cadillac sell many vehicles in China? Especially as they are going fully EV at the moment over there.

https://investor.gm.com/news-releases/news-release-details/gm-china-sales-continued-grow-q4-over-40

https://gmauthority.com/blog/2025/10/gm-china-sale...

Growing, and partnered with SAIC.

[CSR Performance]

Supersam83 said:

Do Cadillac sell many vehicles in China? Especially as they are going fully EV at the moment over there.

Yes. Buick and Cadillac are very big in China. Buick mostly for the MPV/minivans and Caddy for the luxury SUVs.

[TheDeuce]

China is a massive car market, everyone wants to sell them cars. It's easiest for luxury brands to sell cars into China, so Cadillac have quite an opportunity.

[Supersam83]

Still Mulling said:

Supersam83 said:

Do Cadillac sell many vehicles in China? Especially as they are going fully EV at the moment over there.

https://investor.gm.com/news-releases/news-release-details/gm-china-sales-continued-grow-q4-over-40

https://gmauthority.com/blog/2025/10/gm-china-sale...

Growing, and partnered with SAIC.

CSR Performance said:

Yes. Buick and Cadillac are very big in China. Buick mostly for the MPV/minivans and Caddy for the luxury SUVs.

TheDeuce said:

China is a massive car market, everyone wants to sell them cars. It's easiest for luxury brands to sell cars into China, so Cadillac have quite an opportunity.

If so, then it's a good move for Cadillac. Purely a marketing move of course.

[TheDeuce]

Supersam83 said:

If so, then it's a good move for Cadillac. Purely a marketing move of course.

Indeed.

Car culture in China is booming right now, it's like Japan in the mid nineties-mid noughties. If they have a local hero attached to a Chrysler F1 team it's only going to help the new breed of car fans in China show more interest in Chrysler cars.

Of course, Chrysler also has to build cars for China that exceed cars China are producing themselves in some way, as they definitely won't be anything like as cheap as some of the domestic luxury cars the Chinese now produce themselves. That part of the equation will require a lot more than some good marketing...