Eagle-eyed fans spot hints that Cadillac F1 could partner with huge American brand

A post shared by the Cadillac Formula 1 team has led to speculation about a huge upcoming partnership announcement. 

Eagle-eyed fans spotted the same pair of black-and-white Nike trainers worn by drivers Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez, plus reserve driver Zhou Guanyu in a photo shared by the American outfit. 

While Cadillac has yet to announce any partnership with Nike, it seems unusual that all three drivers would be wearing the same shoes, especially when the trainers match the team's colours.

One fan commented on the post, "How about those Nike sneakers?", with an inspector emoji, while another added: "Nike sponsorship for Cadillac?"

"Nike is something cooking?" wrote someone else, and another fan commented: "Announce Nike".

Cadillac has been keen to partner with other big American brands as it leans into its identity as a United States-based team.

If Cadillac were to partner with Nike, it would join various athletes who work with the brand, including Ellie Carpenter, Dina Asher-Smith and Rafael Nadal. The Graeme Lowdon-led team has already secured partnerships with brands such as Tommy Hilfiger and Jim Beam.

Currently running a test livery for private testing in Barcelona ahead of the 2026 season, Cadillac will unveil its race livery in an advert during the showing of the Super Bowl on 8 February.

“It’s great to be back, also with this brand-new team in the sport – it’s a really, really unique situation,” Bottas explained to F1.com after taking to the track at private testing. “I really enjoyed getting back on track – this was the first time I drove this car, so it’s just good to be out there.

“Obviously, performance-wise I wouldn’t say much yet – the main thing is we’ve got some running done. At the end, we got a little bit longer run in, so these are the first steps of debugging and getting everything to work better.”