Entertainment
As Cadillac races to first F1 season, insiders advise patience for U.S. fans
Cadillac has become the first American auto giant to step into the fiercely competitive world of Formula One with a dedicated team. The storied U.S. brand unveiled the official team livery for its inaugural 2026 season during the Super Bowl Sunday night.
The Super Bowl ad, which aired during the fourth quarter, shows the black and white livery. It features part of President John F. Kennedy’s 1962 speech in which he said, “We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”
“That challenge is one that we are willing to accept … and one which we intend to win,” the edited speech said in the ad. The short feature closed out with the phrase: “THE MISSION BEGINS.”
While Ford has been present in the sport as an engine supplier and owner of the U.K.-based Jaguar team, this is the first time an American auto giant will race under its own branding.
Leading Cadillac’s effort is team principal Graeme Lowdon, who’s built the team from the ground up, including new facilities in Indiana, the home of Indycar; North Carolina, the home of NASCAR; and Silverstone, England, the home of F1.
Speaking with CBS before the livery reveal, Lowdon called the road to get Cadillac into the F1 game “lengthy, with lots of twists and turns.”
He recently shared that Cadillac had hired more than 500 people to join the new team, from a pool of some 143,000 applicants.
“There’s a lot of expectation, and quite rightly so,” Lowdon told CBS News. “General Motors is a hugely respected and impressive entity … so there is that pressure, but that’s what Formula One’s about.”
On the track, the American brand will be represented by former Mercedes team driver Valtteri Bottas, originally from Finland, and Mexican former Red Bull driver Sergio Perez. Widely considered to be veterans in the sport, they have a total of 16 Grand Prix victories and more than 500 race starts between them.
Cadillac Formula 1 Team
Having that level of experience behind the wheel, for an otherwise new team, was the chief motivator behind signing those two drivers, according to Lowdon.
“These guys know how to win,” he said. “But above all else, they have an ability to gel a team together, so they’re the focal point for the engineering activities, the garage activities, everything to do with operating a team at the highest level.”
A slow start in a fast sport?
Experts say American fans hoping Cadillac will deliver a blockbuster first season as it steps into the ring against longtime heavyweights such as Ferrari and Mercedes may be disappointed.
The odds of Cadillac winning an F1 race, or even finishing on the podium this season, aren’t generally considered very strong.
A winning Formula One car, and a winning team behind it, can take at least several seasons to develop, and require consistent investment.
Ross Brawn, the man widely credited as the architect behind German F1 sensation Michael Schumacher‘s success, told CBS News at the 2026 Autosport Awards in London that American fans may need some patience.
CBS News
“It’s very tough,” Brawn said about the expectations for the Cadillac team this season. “They’ve got some very good people there. They have been sensible in choosing a lot of experienced people, but it’s going to be very tough, so give them a bit of time.”
David Croft, a prominent Formula One commentator for Britain’s Sky Sports network, urged fans this year to look for development, not podium placement.
“Wherever they start the hope for me is that that’s not where they’ll finish,” he told CBS News at the 2026 Autosport Awards. “They’ve got the drive and the determination, and they’ve got the right people in place to be a success eventually in Formula One, but it’s going to take a bit of time.”
Formula One’s growing popularity in the U.S.
According to ESPN, which has long held Formula One broadcasting rights in the U.S., 2025 was the biggest season to date for average viewership for the sport, with 16 of the 24 races setting viewership records. The broadcaster has said that over the past eight years, average viewership per Grand Prix more than doubled, from 554,000 to 1.3 million in the U.S.
Formula One is still dwarfed in the U.S. as a racing spectator sport, with overall viewership for the Nascar Cup Series, for instance, averaging 3.2 million in 2025.
But insiders say the trajectory is undeniable, and encouraging.
“There was a time we’d go to Austin, the U.S. Grand Prix, and nobody would know what Formula One is when we got to passport control, let alone who we were,” Croft told CBS. “Now people know who we are and what Formula One is, what it stands for.”
Many pundits see the success of Netflix’s “Drive to Survive” series behind F1’s rising popularity in the U.S.
Croft also credited the addition of two more races in the United States, in Miami and Las Vegas. Alongside races in Texas, Mexico, Canada and Brazil, a total of six F1 races now take place within American time zones, making it easier for fans to tune into the action live, he noted.
Lowdon hopes Cadillac can ride the wave of popularity, and that fans will enjoy following the new team’s journey – even if it means settling for relatively small “wins” at first.
“It’s really so difficult to achieve success that, if you come along and join the journey … then [fans] can enjoy, if you like, the minor victories along the way,” he said. “Even just producing a car as complex as this is a minor victory in itself.”
Entertainment
Savannah Guthrie is returning to “Today” show on April 6, NBC says
“Today” show co-host Savannah Guthrie will return to the program on April 6, host Hoda Kotb announced on the program’s Friday broadcast.
The investigation into the disappearance of Guthrie’s mother, Nancy Guthrie, is still continuing. In an interview on “Today,” Savannah Guthrie made a tearful plea for someone “to do the right thing” and share information to help solve the case.
It has been nearly two months since authorities believe Nancy Guthrie, 84, was taken from her Tucson, Arizona, home after she was last seen on the night of Jan. 31.
In a portion of the interview with Kotb that aired Friday, Savannah Guthrie said she wants to return to the show “because it’s my family.”
“I think it’s part of my purpose right now. I want to smile. And when I do, it will be real. And my joy will be my protest. My joy will be my answer. And being there is joyful,” Guthrie said.
She added, “I consider this my family, my greater family, and when times are hard, you want to be with your family and I want to be with my family. And so, I don’t know if I can do it. I don’t know if I’ll belong anymore, but I would like to try.”
Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance
Nancy Guthrie was reported missing on Sunday, Feb. 1, the morning after she had dinner at her daughter Annie’s house and was dropped off back at her own home for the night. Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos told CBS News he believes she was abducted in the middle of the night, and he has also said family members and their spouses have all been ruled out as possible suspects.
Evidence later showed that a doorbell camera at Nancy Guthrie’s home disconnected at 1:47 a.m. Images and video retrieved from the camera system’s data and released by the FBI showed a man in a face mask, gloves and backpack at her door overnight.
No suspects have been named in the case. The Guthrie family is offering a $1 million reward for information leading to Nancy Guthrie’s recovery. The FBI is also offering a separate reward of $100,000.
Savannah Guthrie’s appeals
Savannah Guthrie has made several appeals for people with information about her mother to come forward, including a tearful plea in a two-part interview this week on “Today.”
“We are in agony. We are in agony,” an emotional Guthrie told Kotb in a clip released Wednesday. “It is unbearable, and to think of what she went through, I wake up every night in the middle of the night, every night, and in the darkness, I imagine her terror, and it is unthinkable, but those thoughts demand to be thought.”
She and her siblings have also released video pleas on social media.
As authorities continued to search for her mother, Guthrie stepped back from her duties at NBC, including dropping out of hosting the network’s 2026 Winter Olympics broadcast last month.
“Someone needs to do the right thing,” Savannah Guthrie said in Wednesday’s clip. She also said, “I will not hide my face, but she needs to come home now.”
Entertainment
Prince William bold decision keeps Harry up at night: ‘No mercy’
Prince Harry has been losing sleep over Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet’s future risks, particularly following his estranged brother Prince William’s recent powerful move.
The Prince of Wales’ bold decision regarding Andrew caused serious tension for the Duke of Sussex about his and little Sussex’s royal future.
Royal commentator Tom Bower, in his book Betrayal: Power, Deceit And The Fight For The Future Of The Royal Family, made several claims, and one is about Harry’s growing fears for Archie and Lilibet’s titles in William’s reign.
After witnessing the royal family, especially William’s stern actions against Andrew after he portrayed the monarchy in a negative light, Harry anticipates the future King’s wrath.
Tom penned, “The tremors of the unprecedented sanctions against Andrew must have shocked Harry. In public, he remained silent. In private, he realised that his own royal status was no longer invincible.”
The royal expert warned, “Clearly, William was taking no prisoners. Once he was crowned as king, his brother might well show no mercy to him and Meghan.”
Harry knows that the Prince and Princess of Wales still have grievances regarding the Sussexes’ bombshell move to air their family’s drama to the public.
Talking about Meghan, Tom said, “William would undoubtedly rail against her disloyalty. He might even strip Archie and Lilibet of their titles.”
Entertainment
Megan Thee Stallion teases new song with Cardi B: ‘Definitely gonna happen’
Megan Thee Stallion is excited to collaborate with Cardi B again.
The Grammy-winning rapper has been on a career high this week, making her Broadway debut as the first female Zidler in Moulin Rouge, and a surprise new collaboration with Nickelback on the Cheetos Dill Pickle promo song, Pickle’s Back.
Speaking to Entertainment Tonight on Wednesday, March 25, Megan teased what’s next: a long-awaited collaboration with her “girl,” Cardi B.
“Don’t worry about that, don’t worry about that,” she said with a smirk when asked about a possible collaboration with the Bodack Yellow rapper. “This is going to happen again. This is definitely going to happen again. Now, when it’s going to happen, I’m not telling you,” she teased.
The hip-hop icons first collaborated on Cardi’s 2020 hit, WAP. Three years later, they came together for Bongos. More recently, they reunited on stage at Cardi’s ongoing Little Miss Drama tour during a stop in Megan’s hometown of Houston, Texas.
“It was great, I love performing with Cardi,” Megan told ET about the performance. “She’s amazing. Every time we link up, it’s like, we don’t have to see each other for a long time, but every time I see her it’s like, I just saw you yesterday. We just pick back up where we left off from. That’s my girl,” she gushed.
“We’re both authentic, and we both are ourselves. We just both like to laugh, so we don’t really take anything too seriously,” Megan added.
Cardi also gushed over Megan following the performance, sharing a picture of the duo backstage on her Instagram Stories and writing, “I love you so so so so so sooooooo much.”
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