First impressions from the private shakedown at Barcelona have prompted Valtteri Bottas to admit that Cadillac has a “mountain to climb” before its Formula 1 debut.
The General-Motors backed venture kicked off its F1 debut with three days of running at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, last week.
Having only gotten the thumbs up to become the sport’s 11th team mid-way last season, Cadillac had a monumental task ahead of itself to get ready for on-track action in 2026.
And from the looks of it, it has achieved exactly that. The American outfit ran a grand total of 164 laps across the allocated days in Spain as per the unofficial charts.
But while this was a solid tally for a new-comer, it lagged behind fellow newbies Audi with the second-lowest lap count of the session, only edging out Aston Martin.
Bottas, who makes a return to F1 after spending 2025 on the sidelines, got his first taste of the yet-to-be-named challenger.
The 10-time Grand Prix winner is “proud” of what the team has achieved in brining a car to the track in the short span of time it had but did admit that the team still has a long way to go in terms of competitiveness and reliability.
“It has been, and also my first time driving for Cadillac Formula 1 team, and it’s great,” he said. “I mean, it is the problem-solving phase of the team, it’s the first time we’re properly running the car.
“So it’s been a really valuable, really important week. I think biggest takeaways are that, well, first of all, I’m proud of everyone working so hard and being here with the car.
“But also, first takeaway is that we still have a long way to go. We still have lots of problems to solve and a bit of a mountain to climb, but we’re getting there step by step.
“Each run, we’re getting better and more together as a team. Each run, we’re solving issues and going forward. So that’s good.”
Valtteri Bottas ready for ‘hectic’ Cadillac preparations before Bahrain
The Barcelona shakedown was the first of three planned pre-season testing opportunities that the FIA has granted the teams given the scale of the changes brought by the 2026 technical overhaul.
The teams will now shift camp to the Bahrain International Circuit for two three-day events in February before the season officially kicks off at the Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne, in March.
Bottas explained how Cadillac has already put its next steps into motion; the data logged at Barcelona will now be put to test on the simulator in the US, something that is going to ensure that Bottas’ off-season will be a busy one.
“It’s going to be busy between here and Bahrain for the whole team,” added Bottas. “I’m going actually pretty much straight from here to the simulator in the US, try to do some correlation work, try to prepare for Bahrain.
“As a team, we have now lots of data, finally, of the new car, so we have lots of analysis to do, maybe even build some new parts before Bahrain. So it’s going to be hectic, but we’re going to be ready for Bahrain.”
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