Colton Herta may be the most high-profile name in the race to take away Valtteri Bottas's 2027 Cadillac seat, but there's an under-the-radar figure in Mercedes' return to the top of Formula 1 who is making a good case for himself too.
๐ The Core Development
In the same Mexico FP1 session where Herta ticked off another superlicence point in his bid to finally get on the F1 grid (but not, as it turned out, his last), Fred Vesti was arguably the standout rookie as, in place of George Russell, he compared well to Kimi Antonelli - lapping just 0.111s slower than F1's new world champion.
Deputy Mercedes team principal Bradley Lord called it the "most impressive" of Vesti's seven F1 practice outings so far.
๐ Background & Sector Context
Vesti, who is a contender alongside the likes of Bottas, Herta and Yuki Tsunoda to be Sergio Perez's 2027 team-mate at Cadillac, openly declared after his FP1 outing: "The timing couldn't be better.
"There are discussions about a seat and I've got my eyes on that [Cadillac] seat. I believe I would be very, very good in that car and to be in Formula 1 has been my goal ever since I started driving."
๐ Industry & Real-World Impact
The Race sat down with Vesti in Mexico to find out more about his pitch, what he thinks he could offer Cadillac, and how he's been leading the development of Mercedes' 2026 car in the virtual world.
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๐ฎ Strategic Outlook & What Lies Ahead
Vesti is right that his third Mexico FP1 outing was well-timed given Cadillac is yet to make a final 2027 driver decision.
Mercedes - with the blessing of Russell - allowed Vesti to properly push on his soft tyres to show his performance potential, given some of his previous outings have been more focused on development work.
