Valtteri Bottas currently holds one of the two seats that could become available for the 2027 season as he is yet to be confirmed for Cadillac.
Since the United States Grand Prix early October, Bottas’ place on the 2027 grid has been called into question as Cadillac boss Marcin Budkowski confirmed that either Bottas or Sergio Perez would remain with the team for 2027.
Teammate Perez was then confirmed a week later at his home Grand Prix in Mexico, but the Finn’s seat potentially remaining open with reserve driver Colton Herta achieving his super licence points in São Paulo FP1.
As the team continues to evaluate Herta’s performance for a possible seat in 2027, Bottas has insisted he has a contract for 2027 with Cadillac‘s CEO Dan Towriss playing a key figure in the discussion.
Following Racings Bulls announcement of Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad re-signing for them in 2027, there are only two seats left to be taken on the 2027, Bottas’ seat and the second Haas seat which Oliver Bearman currently has.
From his talks with Towriss, Bottas has said he has no indication that a change is on the cards.
“We have been in touch regularly,” Bottas told media.
“The last time I spoke with him was after the race in Mexico, and the message was is they’re not looking to change anything. But it still needs to be confirmed by the board.”
When asked if the ‘noise’ gets to him, Bottas replied that it was ‘a part of F1’.
“I try and not let it get to me, because I know how the sport is, and there will always be noise,” he responded.
“I try and filter it and not look at it. It is apart of the sport and that has always been there and it always will be there.”
‘If they can give me a car, then I can deliver’
Bottas holds Cadillacs best result of the season after finishing 13th in China but has not finished higher than 16th since.
Finishing nine races so far with eight DNF and one DNS, Bottas feels that he has not had the car or the equipment to show what he is truly capable of.
“The team know what they can get out of me if everything works well, I think they know that if they can give me a car, that I can deliver.” He said
“So far, they haven’t really delivered a car with which I can do much, so that’s where we are. Honestly, that’s what I expected here because I came into improve things for the future, for problem solving.
“It is definitely not a mindset of fighting for my seat, it’s not been in my head at all this season.
“It has been about improving things and hopefully, having a much stronger car next year.”
Cadillac have suffered from their fair share of reliability concerns through the year, with breaks over hearing and heat from the breaks causing a wishbone failure for Bottas during the Mexican Grand Prix at turn 1.
“It’s never nice to DNF and there have been too many of those this year,” he said.
“There’s always an opportunity lost, but at least we know everyone can see what we are dealing with – many issues and many DNFs.
“I think its pretty clear that we have bigger problems to solve than the drivers at the moment and Mexico would be a good example of that.”
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