Andretti Junior driver Sebastian Wheldon wins from pole on his international debut in the F4 UAE Trophy race - is he now F1-bound rather than IndyCar bound?

[u/GeeVeeF1]

https://formulascout.com/wheldon-wins-on-prema-f4-debut-daryanani-takes-formula-trophy-title/126629

Andretti Junior driver Sebastian Wheldon wins from pole on his international debut in the F4 UAE Trophy race - are Dan Towriss/Gainbridge/TWG Global/Andretti now positioning his development through the European/International formulae for an eventual role with Cadillac in F1, rather than up through the Road To Indy for an eventual seat with Andretti in IndyCar?

[u/GeeVeeF1]

It did feel somewhat telling too when Sebastian Wheldon didn’t participate in the end of season Chris Griffis test this year…

… With Wheldon’s main backer being Gainbridge (Dan Towriss/TWG Global), I am also reminded of this Dan Towriss quote from this Autosport article from April this year when he and Michael Andretti were talking up a potential Andretti F2 and F3 team to complement their planned F1 outfit:

—— “We’re very excited about the Wheldon boys right now that we’ve been bringing along. And about the time we get an F3 team, young Sebastian is going to be ready for it.

Sometimes people think, ‘Oh, they just want to bring IndyCar drivers over… I think there are some talented IndyCar drivers that can absolutely make the leap right now….

We want to have a development series with F3 and F2 so that we’re developing drivers to bring them up, making sure that American drivers are getting over at the right time, and have all the opportunities to make a claim for an F1 seat.” ——

( https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/andretti-planning-f2-and-f3-entries-to-promote-us-talent-to-f1-team/10597214/ )

With Dan Towriss/TWG Global now the main leader of the new Cadillac F1 programme, with those previous comments in mind, are we now seeing Wheldon being actively developed for a Cadillac F1 seat, rather than an Andretti IndyCar one?

[u/Alpha413]

I'll note: Michel Andretti mentioned in an interview last year he intended for both Wheldon brothers to race in Europe and try to get into F1.

[u/notallwonderarelost]

Watch the documentary The Lionheart. So good. Hard to even fathom the emotions of their mom knowing their dad died racing cars.

[u/ForeverAddickted]

He'll be an interesting one to watch next season then if he stays in Europe, as guess he'll do F4 UAE proper in January, before taking on one of the European F4 series

[u/Alpha_Jazz]

He’s gonna be part of the Prema squad in Italian F4 yes

[u/M1chaelHM]

I can’t say for sure about the end goal, but he’s definitely partial to the idea of racing in Europe.

[u/MrPiastrix3]

good thing is wheldon aint american his british so he wont issues getting up to speed