‘The sky is the limit’ – Valtteri Bottas on why he chose Cadillac

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1:25Cadillac has entered Formula One, deepening the racing pedigree behind every V-Series on the road. Discover a line-up that delivers pure adrenaline in the form of modern luxury. Experience the quickest Cadillac ever, the all-electric Lyric V, the peak performance of the CT5V Blackwing, the nimble agility of the Optic V, and the legendary roar of the Escalade V. All engineered to thrill. Find out more about Cadillac's performance story in Formula One and our race-tested V-Series lineup at cadillac.com.

2:16Monday agent in minutes at monday.com. To whom it may concern, I'm back. The more they showed interest to me, I felt like I was really wanted. I think they've chosen me for sure one thing is experience and they want speed as well. So I believe I can still drive very fast. Mentally almost kind of preparing for the worst that it's going to be a difficult start, but sky's the limit for the team.

2:48Hello everyone and welcome to a special bonus episode of F1 Nation. I'm Tom Clarkson. I'm in the Zandvoort paddock ahead of the Dutch Grand Prix, where the big news heading into the weekend is that Cadillac have announced Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez as their drivers for the team's first season in Formula 1 in 2026. And I'm very happy to say that Valtteri joins us now on his birthday, VB. How are you? Great news. Thank you. It's quite a week, actually. First announcement, now my birthday, and here we are. So thanks for having me on this special bonus episode. How does it feel to know that you're going to be racing again in 2026?

3:29It's really, well, obviously I signed a while ago, but for me, once we had the announcement in New York, that's really when it hit me. And it's almost the same feeling as when I started. Like I'm an F1 driver again, you know, so it feels great. I feel like a kid, you know. That's an interesting point. Has this year out rejuvenated your enthusiasm for Formula One and for getting back at it behind the wheel? It just made myself more confident on what I want in my life and in my career, which is to race. Because, you know, how that feeling of missing racing has been ramping up throughout the year, that's really confirmed to me that, yeah, I still have years left in me.

4:13You've been asking the question, what's next, for a while. Why have you chosen Cadillac? It's a really exciting, interesting project for me. Obviously, they've got a great structure already. They have big plans for the future. And for me, being part of something that you can really start from a blank page, a new Formula One team, there's so much input that I can put into it. and I think just as a project it's really interesting for me and I know there's a lot of work to do but I think it's really exciting starting something new and being part of it. Why do you think they've chosen you? I think they've chosen me for sure one thing is experience.

4:55I've been in three different teams throughout my career and one of them obviously Mercedes when we had great success so I've seen what a team needs to be successful and they want speed as well So I believe I can still drive very fast. Does it require some mental adjustment from you? As you say, you've been with Mercedes, those 10 Grand Prix wins. I mean, what are the expectations going into next year? Absolutely needs a reset and we need to be realistic. I need to be realistic on the targets. Yeah, the main thing is, first of all, to be there at the first test in January, to finish the first race and then we kind of go from there.

5:38So mentally almost kind of preparing for the worst, that it's going to be a difficult start. But you never know, you know, as it is new regulation change again in Formula One with the power units and with the cars. So there can be opportunities. But yeah, we will take it step by step. But by working hard and then eventually seeing the fruit, that's what is going to be the thing that keeps me going. You say it might be a difficult start. Can I ask you about that five-place grid penalty that you got in Abu Dhabi last year after a crash with Kevin Magnus? I think that means you're going to start your first race with Cadillac with a five-place grid penalty.

6:21Is that your understanding? No. I heard from Ron Meadows earlier this year that they managed to get rid of that rule or modify it somehow. So it should expire in Abu Dhabi this year. That's what I've heard. Going forward, any penalties now will expire in 12 months. but they have no mechanism in the rules to change anything that's happened in the past. I didn't know that. Okay, so I'm not going to be on pole in Melbourne. But it's okay. There's, you know, years ahead. Let's have a word about your new teammate, Checo Perez. You've known him a long time. Just describe your relationship with him and whether you think you're going to make good teammates.

7:03I've been always in good sense with Checo. and again he brings a lot to the team with his experience. He's had a great career already, but again, a bit like me, he's still keen to go. We spent the whole day this week in New York where we had the announcement day together and yeah, we get along really well. I think we're going to make a really strong team. We both immediately have understood what are the priorities in the team. It's not the results of an individual driver, it's the results of the team. So that's going to be the priority and I think we're going to be good teammates. He's taken a year out, coincidentally, like you, but he hasn't even been coming to races.

7:46Did you talk about how difficult or otherwise it's going to be to get back up to speed? Yeah, we talked about it. He's aware that the sport always evolves and I think he will have a chance to do some TPC test days and he will be ready. You know, he's had, I think, his 14 seasons under his belt. So he's done a lot of races. So he knows how everything works. And yeah, he's going to be ready, no doubt. And I'm going to make sure that myself, I'm ready too. What about that TPC program? It was mentioned during the launch. What can you tell us? Are you actually going to be going around various racetracks?

8:25with a two-year-old car and just not only getting yourself up to speed, but I guess getting the pit crew up to speed and all those sorts of things? Yeah, so the car needs to be at least a couple of years older than the car in spec. Then you are basically unlimited with testing amounts. But the team won't have a car until January. So that would mean making a deal with an existing team to rent a car. That's probably the only solution we can do. But at least that would put the team together already on a racetrack, working together and and same for the drivers to get some some mileage in a in an f1 car um because let's example 2023 car is probably going to be uh same pace or maybe even faster than the the start of the new new rex car next year so it's going to be a good good reference for for drivers and and for the team and with your links to mercedes now might that tpc car be a mercedes or do you think it's more likely to be a Ferrari given that the PU in the back end of the car is going to be a Ferrari next one?

9:26This one, I don't know yet. I don't know yet. I'm sure the team is trying to figure out what the best solution is. Can we just quickly talk about any other options you had, all right? When you came on Beyond the Grid earlier in the year, you said you were still really hungry to stay in Formula One and that you were speaking to various teams. Did you get close to Alpine, for example, or was it always about Cadillac for you? For me, the priority was always about Cadillac. I had my first talks with Graham two years ago, so it's a long, long time. And earlier this season, it became very clear to me that that's what I want.

10:01The more I heard about the project, the plans, and the more they showed interest to me, I felt like I was really wanted. And it really went both ways. I wanted to be there. They wanted me. So in the end, that was always the priority. There were some talks, of course, with other teams such as Alpine. But yeah, in my mind, I was quite set early on this year. Now, VB, we've discussed the fact that you're a multiple Grand Prix winner, 67 podiums, 20 poles, those constructors championships you contributed towards with Mercedes. You know what it takes to win in Formula One. What can you and Cadillac achieve together?

10:43because it's a multi-year deal isn't it? Yeah that's right we can achieve something hopefully we can get those numbers adjusted for sure at least with the points in the next couple of years but sky's the limit for the team you know there's obviously a target to make progress as quickly as possible the team is going to be here to stay for a long time in F1 so I'm not going to set a result target or anything, but we want to see progress and we want to be successful. But as I said, starting point could be tricky, but there's only way up from there. And that's exciting. And the commitment from GM, from TWG...

11:26It's huge. It's huge, right? It's huge. They are serious. They're not here to finish last. So, yeah. And that is really encouraging and good to see. Well, VB, huge congratulations from all of us it's going to be great to see you back on the grid next year and thanks for your time now and have a good rest of your birthday thank you thanks so much

11:51well I can't wait to have Valtteri back on the grid full time next year and to see what he, Sergio and Cadillac can achieve and I can't wait for the return of racing this weekend our full preview of the Dutch Grand Prix is out now as well I'm joined by Jolian Palmer and Alex Jakes. You'll find that just below this episode on the F1 Nation feed. And F1 TV expert and former IndyCar star James Hinchcliffe is my guest on F1 Beyond the Grid this week. That's out now and you can watch our chat on the F1 YouTube channel as well. And this week's episode of F1 Explains is all about pit crews and Haas. That's out on Friday.

12:29Thank you very much for listening. Enjoy the race weekend. and we will of course be back on Monday with our review of all the action here at Sandvall. F1 Nation is produced by Formula One and Audioboom Studios.

12:56Cadillac has entered Formula One, deepening the racing pedigree behind every V-Series on the road. Discover a line-up that delivers pure adrenaline in the form of modern luxury. Experience the quickest Cadillac ever, the all-electric Lyric V, the peak performance of the CT5V Blackwing, the nimble agility of the Optic V, and the legendary roar of the Escalade V, all engineered to thrill. Find out more about Cadillac's performance story in Formula One and our race-tested V-Series line-up at cadillac.com