Lowdon: It made a lot of sense for Zhou to join Cadillac

Zhou's announcement came on the back of the 2025 season, which he spent as a reserve driver with Ferrari after three seasons as a full-time driver before that with Sauber, who became Audi for 2026.

Zhou now joins lead drivers Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas at Cadillac as well as test driver Colton Herta, who is also competing in Formula 2 in 2026.

Commenting on the drivers' decisions Cadillac made, Lowdon said: “You’ll see from the race driver selection that, as a new team, we've put a lot of emphasis on experience and driver experience, and clearly Zhou is very, very experienced.

“He's had three years of racing in Formula 1, and so, unlike some of the other candidates—who may well have very good credentials in the junior formula and are looking perhaps to get a foothold into Formula 1—the key thing for us, throughout the entire driver line-up, is to work with very, very experienced people who can contribute to the overall program.

“I think it's very easy to underestimate just what is needed to bring a new team into Formula 1; as you know, Formula 1 is unbelievably competitive,” Lowdon pointed out. "It's highly complex; it's such a big step from any other formula.

"So having drivers throughout the whole driver program who just know exactly what they're doing—and none of this is new to any of them, apart from the fact it's a brand-new team—is really, really important.

"That played a big factor in the selection of Zhou," the Cadillac boss maintained.

Another factor that gave an advantage to Zhou was the fact that he was working with Ferrari in 2025, as the Italian team are Cadillac's suppliers of power units and gearboxes.

Lowdon explained: “I have a lot of respect for Ferrari. It's a team we've worked with before in the past.

"I know the people there very well. I know just how highly they valued Zhou's input in 2025, which was another big factor for us.

“It also means that, in some way, Zhou staying in that overall family, he's had experience of development and experience of the 2026 tyres, and also just experience in operating in a top-class, very competitive team.

“So from our point of view, it just ticked all of the boxes in so many ways: the experience, the direct experience with Ferrari, who are our partner for the power unit and the gearbox.

"So it just made a lot of sense for him to join the team," Lowdon concluded.