With his new role as a simulator driver for Cadillac’s Formula 1 team, Corvette factory driver Charlie Eastwood is “adding value” wherever he can to General Motors’ global racing operation.
The 30-year-old Irishman has spent 2025 plate-spinning GT3 programs in the FIA WEC, IMSA and European Le Mans Series with Corvette Racing partner teams TF Sport and DXDT, plus trips to and from Charlotte, N.C., to help Cadillac get its F1 project off the ground. It’s been a hugely busy year, but the long days and nights on and off track have been worth it as his stock has risen considerably in industry circles as a result.
Speaking with RACER ahead of the final FIA WEC race of the season in Bahrain, Eastwood revealed that he’s been part of the Cadillac effort since March, long before it was made public last month.
“It’s such a cool project to be part of,” he said when asked about his packed schedule. “It’s such a challenge because of the timescale, confirming an entry in October last year to having cars on the grid in March next year. Because of the uncertainty of getting the entry, they couldn’t commit the spend, let alone employ people in advance.
“I actually got the job extremely fast. When my ‘gardening leave’ with Mercedes F1 (where he was a simulator driver for multiple seasons) elapsed, I messaged Eric Warren (vice president of global motorsports competition at GM), and within 15 minutes, I was in an email chain that led to the hiring. That’s the great thing about General Motors: they act.
“You can see it in the speed they’re getting this project off the ground. Getting up a GT3 program would be tough in that time, let alone an F1 program. Seeing people get hired and seeing the resources going into it to make it happen, it’s crazy. But there are a lot of driven people from multiple companies who have come in.
“It’s cool to work on from the start, too, because when I was at Mercedes (F1), they’d won multiple titles when I arrived. At Cadillac, it’s totally different, because they don’t have a single lap of data to work with. At Mercedes, I was going in each day, and if I didn’t learn a bucketful when I left, it was a bad day.
“Now, it’s a role reversal, because I bring the knowledge to the project as a lot of top-level people there have incredible experience, but for some in Charlotte at the GM tech center, it’s maybe only NASCAR projects, and that couldn’t be much further away.
“It’s all moving at such a rate and scale, who knows where it’ll be in a year, two years.”
With TF Sport, Eastwood is looking to clinch a second LMGT3 title with the Z06 LMGT3.R this year. James Moy Photography/Getty Images
What does this all mean for his career goals and future in sports car racing?
“It’s all up for discussion,” he said. “I have my own aspirations on track; there’s no driver who doesn’t want to be in Hypercar, for instance. But I’m loving my time with Corvette. I’ve asked the same question because I want to add as much value to General Motors as I can, so if that means doing every race under the sun with Corvette, then great, or if it means 50 days in the sim with Cadillac F1, I don’t mind.
“Of course, I’d love to stay in WEC as a main program, but if I am deemed to be valuable on the F1 side, then I can go in that direction. There are loads of options and paths, it’s just trying to find a balance.”
Before finalizing his 2026 commitments, Eastwood has a huge weekend ahead of him in Bahrain. With TF Sport, he’s looking to clinch a second LMGT3 title with the Z06 LMGT3.R this year and add to his success with the British team in the ELMS, where he sealed the championship in the season finale in Portimao last month.
Along with his teammates, Rui Andrade and Tom van Rompuy, in the No. 81 TF Sport Z06 GT3.R, Eastwood is 24 points off the WEC LMGT3 championship leaders from Manthey 1st Phorm with eight hours of racing to go in the WEC season and 39 points up for grabs.
The 8 Hours of Bahrain is an event that has produced its fair share of thrilling title deciders over the years. It’s a circuit that’s tough on brakes and tires due to its layout and abrasive surface. The eight-hour format often throws a wrench in the works, too, as it opens up the strategy books further than a standard six-hour race. All championship contenders need to be on their A game to finish the season on a high note when the sun sets and the flood lights switch on.
Eastwood is confident the characteristics of Bahrain will play to his team’s strengths. James Moy Photography/Getty Images
Despite the gap in the standings to overcome and the strength of the opposition in the class, Eastwood is confident that he can realize his dream of becoming a WEC champion for the first time. Leaving aside a blip in form at COTA, the No. 81 trio head into the final race high on confidence after stringing together a strong set of results over the past four races, with a win last time out in Fuji, and podiums at Le Mans and São Paulo.
“We’ll see a lot of strategy playing out because of the surface, with teams gambling with half sets or single left-rear tire changes,” he explained. “And because of the transition from day to night, it changes the level of deg.
“If you can create a gap, unless there’s a long safety car, it’s hard to catch a car that races off into the distance, so you see a lot of teams giving Bronze drivers lots of new tires early on. You often get FCYs, but if you lose a minute early, the chances of a pro making that up late on are slim to none. It’s a tricky race to manage, but the Corvette is strong there and strong on tire wear, and it’s a circuit where you are rewarded if you have a tire advantage.
“But there’s a chance you have to roll the dice. And in a title battle, you need to be solid, you need to keep it clean. The hardest element is not getting over-excited at the start of a stint and killing the tire.
“We’ve seen in the last few rounds that the manufacturers in GT3 have been so close, and it’s been about execution, which is great. We know that with TF, the execution is what the team nails more often than not, and at Corvette, the rate of development with the car in two years has been insane.”
