20/08/2025 11:45
The Cadillac F1 team has made its first driver signing for its
debut F1 season, RacingNews365 and Formula.hu understand. Cadillac
has reached a deal with F1 veteran Valtteri Bottas, who will make
his return to the sport for the 2026 campaign. The Finn will most
likely be officially presented by Cadillac next week. Bottas has
been linked to the sport's newest F1 team for quite some time, and
has openly spoken about a return to the grid being his priority.
Cadillac would like to conduct some TPC (testing of previous cars)
outings, likely with an older Ferrari car, in the latter part of
2025 to prepare the team for its debut. Therefore, it is logical
that Bottas will make an early move to Cadillac in order to best
prepare himself for the new adventure and gel with his new team.
Cadillac is currently being headed by team principal Graeme Lowdon,
who is familiar with Bottas. In recent years, Lowdon has worked as
the manager of Zhou Guanyu, who spent three years racing alongside
Bottas at Sauber before the duo departed the grid at the end of
last year. Bottas returned to Mercedes as a reserve driver this
season and has taken part in test outings while assisting Kimi
Antonelli through his rookie F1 season. It remains unknown if
Bottas will conclude his reserve role at Mercedes with immediate
effect. The 35-year-old raced for the Brackley-based squad from
2017 to 2021 and secured 10 grand prix wins, 20 pole positions and
58 podiums with the team. His vast F1 experience should be a major
benefit to Cadillac, which will expand the grid to 11 teams for the
first time since 2016 next year. At present, it is still unknown
who the other driver for Cadillac will be. Sergio Perez was in
talks with the American outfit, but Alpine has also voiced interest
in the six-time grand prix winner. Other, mainly younger drivers,
have also been linked to Cadillac - but it remains up in the air if
the team see it as an option to field a driver with little F1
experience.
