Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas are F1 race winners but that's not why Cadillac signed them

They would have liked to have waited longer, but the cat leapt out of the bag weeks ago. That is at least how long Cadillac have considered Sergio Perez and fellow veteran racer Valtteri Bottas their top driver targets ahead of their maiden Formula 1 campaign.

And now they have their men. Terms were agreed in principle with both earlier in the summer break and now pen has been put to paper. Two drivers who wanted back onto the F1 grid have got their wish, and Cadillac can be delighted that they managed to get both the men they wanted.

Well, a few high-ranking executives across the pond really wanted to bring IndyCar racer Colton Herta to F1. But the American will not secure enough points this year to qualify for a superlicence and he would not get an exemption from the FIA, who denied him entry a couple of years ago when Red Bull wanted to give him a shot.

And so it is Perez and Bottas. The former brings with him millions of Mexican pesos from his very wealthy sponsors, while both add a significant level of prestige, particularly from a commercial standpoint, given they are both multi-race-winners in F1.

Specifically, both 35-year-olds have managed 16 Grand Prix victories between them – 10 for Bottas over his five seasons racing with Mercedes, and six for Perez across spells with Racing Point (now Aston Martin) and Red Bull. It certainly doesn't harm their pitch to potential sponsors.

But from a performance perspective, the fact they have both stood on plenty of podiums – 116 between them in F1 – means very little. Because Cadillac are the first to admit that, in their first couple of years at least, they are going to be no trouble at all to the front-runners.

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I was one of the reporters in the room at their satellite base across the road from Silverstone Circuit in July when team principal Graeme Lowdon said it would be embarrassing for any of the current 10 teams to be beaten by Cadillac in 2026. And unless the Ferrari engines they will initially borrow are massively quicker than the rest, he is probably right.

They may both be in their mid-30s, but Cadillac had the long-term future in mind when it came to making these signings. They are not chasing glory in 2026 – even points are likely to be incredibly scarce for the newcomers – but trying to lay a foundation so that, one day, they can do a whole lot more than that.

The hope is that the many years of experience that both Bottas and Perez bring to the table, in terms of guiding car set-ups and development, will be key to that ambition. Both have been held in high regard by engineers at their past teams for the detailed feedback they are able to provide in terms of how a car feels under them.

And that was why Alpine, who are desperate to find a more suitable partner for Pierre Gasly for next year, were also sniffing around both. But Cadillac beat them to both and, while neither Perez nor Bottas are likely to be seen high up the timesheets too often, both have a crucial role to play in the establishment of America's latest F1 team.