Bottas Ready for New Chapter with Cadillac After Year on the Sidelines
Valtteri Bottas is gearing up for a fresh start in Formula 1, joining his fourth different team as he returns to the grid with American manufacturer Cadillac.
The Finnish driver’s F1 journey has taken him from Williams to Mercedes, then to Alfa Romeo (later Stake F1), before spending 2025 as Mercedes’ reserve driver.
Now he’s back in a race seat alongside experienced teammate Sergio Perez, who brings six Grand Prix victories to the new partnership.
“I’m excited because it’s a big change, a new set of regulations, a new set of power units and a completely new team,” Bottas told Formula1.com in a conversation with Jolyon Palmer and Juan Pablo Montoya.
But a new team isn’t the only challenge Bottas faces. The 2026 season introduces radical new technical regulations that will transform how F1 cars look and perform.
“Almost everyone in the team I haven’t worked with before, so there is so much to adapt to,” he admitted.
Despite these challenges, Bottas sees his experience as valuable to Cadillac’s F1 project.
“That’s why Cadillac hired two experienced drivers – they need that feedback from what me and Checo have experienced in previous teams, especially when the teams are doing good.”
The 2026 regulations represent perhaps the biggest shake-up in F1’s recent history. Cars will look different, handle differently, and feature completely redesigned power units.
“I think this change is going to be the biggest, based on my simulator work,” Bottas explained. “You’ve got less downforce, smaller tires, the car slides a bit more, but you have so much more torque out of the corners.”
Managing the new power units will be a learning curve for everyone.
“How to manage the PU is something every driver and team will need to learn,” he added.
Bottas is already building relationships with his new team, regularly catching up with his race and performance engineers ahead of the season.
“It’s important to build that relationship, but again so many new faces, new names to learn and also to figure out how you can make the most out of that core team. Which is a lot of work, but it is exciting.”
## A Complete Unknown
One of the most intriguing aspects of the 2026 regulations is that no team knows where they’ll stand in the pecking order.
“You just don’t know, it’s all speculation, it’s all rough numbers,” Bottas said. “I feel like there’s going to be more differences between the power units next year. Too many unknowns.”
Even pre-season testing might not reveal the true picture.
“Of course, in preseason testing, we’ll get some kind of idea but again, it’s not always the final car of each team that they start with at the first race.”
The 2026 season will also see the elimination of DRS (Drag Reduction System), which has been a key overtaking tool for drivers.
But Bottas isn’t worried about the racing spectacle suffering.
“On the power unit side, there’s the overtake function, there’s the boost, and then there’s the recharge, so there are still going to be many things for the driver to manage,” he explained.
For a new team like Cadillac, Bottas believes their approach makes perfect sense.
“To be fair for a new team joining the sport, it’s the right call to be a customer in terms of power units, so you can focus on the chassis itself and the systems, instead of all the PU stuff which would be too much at this point.”
With his wealth of experience across multiple teams, Bottas could be exactly what Cadillac needs as they take their first steps in Formula 1’s new era.
