Cadillac Team Principal Graeme Lowdon has refuted rumors suggesting Valtteri Bottas is facing the axe only five races into the 2026 Formula 1 season.
The General-Motors backed project has debuted as F1’s 11th team this year.
The 2026 regulations reset gave the team a chance to start with a clean slate, on par with the other teams, however, the complexities of building an F1 project from scratch have encumbered their progress.
Bottas, who served a season on the sidelines with Mercedes, last year, has been paired up with Red Bull-exilee Sergio Perez at Cadillac.
That said, reports have started to emerge that Lowdon is already looking to offload the Finn on the pretext of his performances not being at par with that of Perez’s.
When asked to clarify, however, Lowdon empathically shut these rumors down.
“There is no foundation, no truth in any of the rumours at all. I can categorically say that,” he told media including Motorsport Week.
“Where do I start on the rumours themselves? I’ll make it really, really clear: factually, they’re completely incorrect. There’s no basis of truth whatsoever in any of them.”
The former Marussia F1 boss explained that the media speculation can be very myopic, especially when only the team is privy to the magnitude of work being put in behind the scenes to achieve competitiveness.
“Secondly, if we look at the job that both drivers are doing, they’re doing way more than drivers in some of the teams are having to do, because we’re constructing the team while we’re racing at the same time, and that’s a very unusual task,” he added.
“So, with all due respect, the outside world doesn’t know what we’re asking these drivers to do, either session to session or race to race, and also, what we’re asking them to do in terms of developing the car.
“It’s clear that we’re trying to get more pace into the car, although I have to say that, similar rumours before we even started racing suggested that we’d struggle to get within 107 per cent of qualifying.
“It was just a few fractions of a per cent in Montreal where we missed out on advancing in sprint race qualifying again, so there’s no foundation of truth, but there’s no logic either to what anybody’s saying.”
Cadillac refuse Colton Herta F1 promotion suggestions
Many reports suggested that Herta – contracted as Cadillac’s reserve driver – has been elected for an F1 promotion to replace Bottas.
Lowdon busted this myth as well. The Briton explained how even if a decision were to be made, it would be impossible for Herta to actually get the green-light from the FIA.
Herta, who proved his salt across the pond in IndyCar, is slated to compete in his rookie F2 season this year. As things stand, he doesn’t hold the requisite points to qualify for a superlicense.
“Also, in terms of rumours, and to be honest, I haven’t read all of them, but a few that I have read just don’t even seem to take into account some of the absolute basic rules of F1,” Lowdon pointed out.
“Some of them suggest that we would put Colton in to replace Valtteri in the next few races, or whatever, and Colton doesn’t have enough super license points, and to some extent, that probably says it all about the quality of some of the rumours.
“I prefer not to focus on pointing out the obvious. I think the fans can see through all of that.
“Colton has a programme that he’s working to; Checo has a programme with us that he’s working to, and Valtteri the same, and they’re all contributing in their own way to what we’re trying to do in establishing the Cadillac Formula 1 team.
“But it’s very important to make it abundantly clear that there is absolutely not one shred of actual truth or evidence to any of the rumours suggesting that either Valtteri’s seat is at risk, or indeed, that Checo might go to another team.”
Cadillac currently have the bottom row of the Constructors’ standings locked out with Aston Martin – both teams yet to score an F1 championship point this season.
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