F1 Explains: Test + Reserve Drivers with Cadillac’s Colton Herta + Zhou Guanyu live in Miami
F1 Nation
Formula 1
4.3 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 30 April 2026
⏱️ 32 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
What’s the difference between a ‘Test Driver’ and a ‘Reserve Driver’? Well, who better to answer that than Cadillac Test Driver Colton Herta and Reserve Driver Zhou Guanyu?
Colton and Zhou join Christian Hewgill ahead of Cadillac’s first home race in Miami to answer your questions about Formula 1.
How does F2 compare to Colton’s previous career in IndyCar? What’s it like working with Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez? Who replaces a driver if they are injured or ill? How close is simulator performance to the real car? And why do drivers sometimes plunge themselves into ice baths after a race?
Send your F1 questions to F1Explains@F1.com
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello everybody and welcome to F1 Explains and of course more importantly, welcome to Formula One Racing. |
| 0:13.7 | We did it, we got through the break. My name is Christian Hugill, and I am stood talking to you |
| 0:18.9 | from somewhere I have never recorded an episode of this podcast before |
| 0:23.6 | because I am on the beach. |
| 0:26.8 | Welcome to Miami Beach. |
| 0:28.4 | We are about an hour from the Hard Rock Stadium, about an hour from the circuit where the Grand Prix will be this weekend. |
| 0:34.5 | Because for the first ever time at the Miami Grand Prix, we've also taken over |
| 0:39.2 | a big chunk of the beach for the official fan fest. I can see in front of me loads and loads |
| 0:45.2 | of sand. It would be more of a surprise if there wasn't sand, what with it being a beach. Somebody has |
| 0:50.9 | done a sand sculpture of a car and the F1 logo and the checkered flags in front of me, which is very impressive. |
| 0:58.4 | I do worry about its structural integrity over the course of the whole weekend. |
| 1:02.4 | I can't lie to you, but for the moment it looks absolutely fantastic. |
| 1:05.6 | There's a man opposite him carving the team's logos into sand and doing a great job. There's the Hass logo. |
| 1:12.2 | He's currently doing the Mercedes logo. He's doing a brilliant job. And sat on everything from |
| 1:18.0 | benches to what are they, producer Jamie? What do you call those things? It's not a parasol. What is it? |
| 1:24.4 | I'd say it's a miniature gazebo over a deck chair. |
| 1:28.1 | Lovely. |
| 1:30.4 | A miniature gazebo over a deck chair. |
| 1:36.3 | Yes, fans are sat on there looking at the big ticket master stage, which acts as the main stage here at the fan fest. |
| 1:39.9 | And that is where we are going to be doing this week's episode of F1 Explains |
| 1:43.6 | with some special guests from Cadillac. |
| 1:46.1 | Their test and reserve drivers, Colton Herter and Joe Gwanyu. |
... |
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