Valtteri Bottas Discusses The Possibility Of Driving For Cadillac In 2026
The veteran driver and race-winner would be a great fit for the new team
We're still very much in the midst of "Cadillac Driver Line-Up Watch" as we wait to see who will be in the cockpits for Formula 1's newest team, and one name that comes up time and again for one of those seats is current Mercedes reserve driver Valtteri Bottas.
Bottas was left without a seat in 2025 despite being a stellar driver, and I've always argued that he was essentially chased out thanks to some bad Sauber cars over the last couple of years, however, in a recent interview on the Beyond The Grid podcast, Bottas confirmed that a year off the grid was not his choice.
"I’m sitting here now without a race seat, not because of my own choice," he said, per Formula1.com. "I definitely still feel – and that emotion was quite quick after I knew I wouldn’t get a seat for this year – that I’m not done yet with F1."
Not done with F1, you say? Bottas says he has more in the tank and felt he was performing at his peak last season (which lends credence to my argument about the car being to blame).
Well, there is that 11th team joining the grid next season that has made it clear it wants at least one experienced driver on its roster. Sergio Perez gets his name bandied about quite a bit, but why not Bottas, a guy with 10 Grand Prix wins?

Valtteri Bottas talked about his desire to return to F1 and the possibility of doing that with Cadillac. (Getty Images)
Bottas said the prospect of joining the team, which has the backing of a major automaker in GM, is "very interesting."
"I don’t think they’re in a massive rush," Bottas said of Cadillac's process for picking drivers. "They’ve been very, very busy on trying to get a car on the grid for next year."
Bottas noted that he has his own timeline for when he hopes to know where he'll be driving next season, and also threw in a nice little sales pitch for himself in case the folks at Cadillac were listening.
"I know my timeline, when I want to know about next year and what plans do I need to make, which I think, August, more or less, is a pretty good target for that. But hopefully we’ll hear something more soon.
"I think they have a few drivers on the list. I would imagine my experience will help because now I’ve raced in three different teams, with one of the teams [that] had mega success. With Williams as well, [we] had some great results, so I hope I’m in a good position."