It's finally official - the 2026 season will feature 11 teams now Cadillac have been granted full approval to join the circus.

More than two years have passed since put in its initial application with to be allowed to form an F1 team. Formula One Management resisted the expansion but after was removed from the situation things began to finally progress.

brand Cadillac, who initially were only supposed to enter as engine suppliers from around 2028, now has full naming rights and the team is owned by Andretti Global chief Dan Towriss, who bought out his partner Michael last year, through newly-formed company TWG Motorsports.

That's the boring bit. Now for the thing that always gets F1 fans excited - the driver market. A new team means two extra seats on the grid from 2026 and extra opportunities for those who have either struggled to get into the sport up to now, or who have lost their places elsewhere.

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Hints from the Cadillac camp so far, mostly from ambassador and former F1 champion , Michael's father, suggest they are looking for one experienced star to be paired with an up-and-comer - preferably American, but they are not wedded to the idea of having one of their racers represent the USA.

Andretti Snr recently provided a timeline for their driver decisions, saying: "Everything is ongoing right now. You think about those things every day, and that's going to become official probably mid-year." Mirror Sport takes a look at the top candidates as it stands:

The most heavily linked racer by far, racer Herta is loved by the Andrettis who are desperate to bring him to F1 if they can. Whether or not they will be allowed to will largely depend on whether the American earns enough superlicence points to race in the sport - he need to earn nine this year to get one in time for 2026, which means at least a fourth-placed finish in the IndyCar championship.

If you want experience and prestige, look no further than F1's most recent Flying Finn. has raced in the sport for a decade and has 10 race wins to his name from his five-year spell with , but lost his place on the grid last year after an underwhelming spell with . He's back with the Silver Arrows as a reserve but wants to be racing and will surely be speaking with Cadillac bosses this year.

also lost his Sauber seat at the end of 2024 and, like his old team-mate, has settled for a reserve position with a top team for now - in his case, . China's first ever F1 racer is less experienced but has two advantages in that his nationality brings significant commercial opportunities for a carmaker like Cadillac, and also the fact team principal Graeme Lowdon is part of his management team.

has a seat in F1 already, but for how much longer? Seemingly disillusioned in the fold having again been overlooked for promotion to their main F1 squad, and having ahead of the 2025 campaign, the Japanese is likely to be looking elsewhere. He's been linked with because he's affiliated with Honda, who will supply their engines from 2026, but as it stands there will be no driver space there for him. So could Cadillac be a good fall-back option?

Back to IndyCar now, but not to another American like Herta. O'Ward is fast, marketable and very, very popular among racing fans. The Mexican with an Irish ancestry (and surname) races for in the USA and is also among their pool of F1 reserve drivers, but Andretti in particular has a strong relationship with McLaren Racing chief executive Zak Brown which would surely make negotiations smooth if O'Ward wants to make the jump to F1.

The third IndyCar driver on this list and by far the most successful. Spaniard Palou has taken the American racing series by storm, winning three of the last four titles. He clearly wants to try himself in F1 - Palou turned his back on a contract with McLaren because he didn't think it would get him onto the grid. His speed and success in the US would surely make him a strong candidate for Cadillac, though might complicate matters.

More of a wildcard, perhaps, but might this be the way champion finally makes it to the big time? Since winning the 2022 F2 title, the Brazilian has rotted away as a reserve at Aston Martin, stuck behind two-time champion and the owner's son . Being from a big car-buying market in Brazil is an advantage but that may be watered down now 2024 F2 champion Gabriel Bortoleto, from Sao Paulo, is on the grid with Sauber.

In the same boat as Drugovich - won the 2023 F2 title but has got nowhere so far in terms of landing an F1 drive. The Frenchman had a brief six-race stint in IndyCar last year as part of Arrow McLaren's driver merry-go-round and has turned to endurance racing for now, but he'd be silly not to throw his hat into the ring for an F1 drive with Cadillac.