Valtteri Bottas has exclusively revealed to Motorsport Week that Mercedes has been “really supportive” in securing his return to Formula 1 with Cadillac for 2026.
The Finn will make his return to F1 with the brand-new American outfit, joining fellow veteran Sergio Perez in the task of elevating the new squad up the field.
It will bring to a close his one-year hiatus as a reserve driver with his former team Mercedes, with which he took all 10 of his Grand Prix wins so far.
In fact, Bottas insists that he has never been more physically prepared than he is now to jump right back into a F1 car. Asked if he felt mentally and physically prepared for the 2026 season with Cadillac, he was unhesitant.
“Yeah, absolutely,” he told Motorsport Week in an interview.
“I think physically, actually, this year I’ve had more time to do training and stuff, so I probably, yeah, will feel the best I’ve ever felt in the car.
Such was his confidence, Bottas proudly said: “I could start today.”
Cadillac’s journey into F1 didn’t happen overnight and neither did Bottas’s 2026 contract with the team. But after years of back and forth fighting with the FIA, F1 and other F1 Team Principals who were not open to another team joining the grid, Cadillac and Bottas managed to align their interests and seal the deal.
“Well, we started talking already two years ago with Graeme Lowdon, and he really just kept me up to date [with] what’s going on,” he revealed. “And then it became quite obvious, very early this year already, that, I would be their choice if they could chose the driver. And the more I started to look at options, it became very, obvious to me that this is what I want.
“I want to jump into this project. I’m ready to put my experience at work. And, yeah, so then, in the end, it was quite easy, because I wanted to be there. They wanted me. So everything was done.”
And when it came to breaking the news to Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff, Bottas revealed how supportive his former boss of five years was in his decision to join the new Cadillac team.
“Toto, he’s seen me that I miss racing, and he knows how I want to race,” he said. “And he was really happy for me. But at the same time, he told me, ‘we can’t really replace you with another, you know, who’s going to do your job’. So, yeah, I mean, but it’s cool. They’ve been really supportive.”
Bottas: Perez ‘seems like a really easy guy to work with’ ahead of Cadillac alliance
Joining a new team also means having a new team-mate and while your team-mate is your biggest competition especially in F1, Bottas believes that he can work together with former Red Bull driver Perez to put the Cadillac team first.
“[It] Seems like he [Perez] is a really easy guy to work with. So I think we’re going to make a good team,” he said. “And I feel like the strong point for us to being a pair is that we can put the team first.
“We can really work for the team together, instead of, you know, focusing on each other. So I think that’s why that this line-up really makes sense to have two experienced drivers and really working for the team together.”
Looking ahead to his 2026 F1 season Bottas has many things to be excited about joining the Cadillac team. From being part of a brand new F1 team to spending more time in America. But the one thing that Bottas is looking forward to the most about joining Cadilliac?
“Driving an Escalade!” he eagerly responded.
Yes, Bottas hopes that Cadillac will give him a brand new all black Escalade to drive to and from the race track and as his daily driver for everyday use, but joking aside, he cannot wait to put down laps on the actual F1 car for the first time.
“Yeah, but I mean, the biggest thing I’m looking forward to is driving that car for the first time, the race car. It’s the amount of work that has gone in and will go in before January is huge. And I think it’s going to be a special moment, not just for me, but for the whole team in the UK and in America, when the car is running for the first time. And that’s going to be something really unique.”
Bottas reveals Cadillac is happy to let him ‘be who I am’, excited to enhance love of America
For Bottas combining his love for American culture with a full time F1 seat with an American team feels special and is something he does not take for granted.
“Yeah, it’s really unique to be part of something that starts from zero, it’s and with a big brand, like proper manufacturer, really cool brand as well,” he enthused. “So it’s going to be great. And, yeah, I mean, it means a lot to me. And I think people have seen I do love America, I love many things about America, and I spend quite a bit of time, even sometimes on my holidays, we [he and partner Tiffany Cromwell] go to Colorado, California and try to explore.
“So, yeah, it’s gonna be fun. And for sure, we’ll spend even more time in the US, and obviously, like the simulator is still in the US, so I’m sure we’ll have some visits to Charlotte [Cadillac’s US HQ].”
And when it comes to dealing with extra pressure taking on a driver role at a brand new team from scratch while representing America on the F1 grid, Bottas says he will rely on the “home advantage.”
“I don’t see this impression,” he said. “I’m going to take that positive energy from all the support and use that as an advantage, a home advantage.”
Besides seeing Bottas make his F1 comeback representing the red white and blue colors of the American Cadillac team on track, F1 fans will also be able to look forward to a new era in the Finn’s career – a much more free version of Valtteri Bottas that fans have never seen before.
“With me you never know, but I’m open minded, and seeing apparently, Cadillac they’re very flexible with me being who I am, so there’s no restrictions, so I can do whatever. So wait and see.”
READ MORE – Exclusive: Valtteri Bottas looks ahead to F1 return with Cadillac
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