Valtteri Bottas names timeline to solve F1 future amid Cadillac rumours

The entry of Cadillac into F1 next year has caught the eye of Valtteri Bottas.

The experienced driver is not on the grid this year against his own wishes, he admits.

But the arrival of an 11th team, Cadillac, will create an additional two race seats in 2026 which will have candidates jostling for position.

Cadillac have been non-committal about who will they choose but have talked up the idea of having an experienced driver alongside, potentially, an American to match their US-based brand.

“I don’t think they are in a massive rush,” Bottas told the Beyond The Grid podcast.

“They have been very, very busy trying to get a car on the grid for next year.

“I know my timeline, when I want to know about next year, and what plans do I need to make.

“I think August, more or less, is a pretty good target for that. But hopefully we will 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.

“I actually see a very interesting project, something new to F1. An American team with, maybe, a different view to the sport. If I would be there as a driver? It would be actually very interesting, because you can start from scratch.

“The team starts from zero. You could actually make a big influence on certain things, which direction to go.

“That would be very motivating and rewarding when the success comes.

“I think the rule change is always a good point to jump in because you just never know. If you suddenly get it right you might actually be doing really well from the get-go.”

Valtteri Bottas: “I haven’t felt any degradation in myself"

Bottas spent 12 years as a Formula 1 driver, finished as runner-up in the drivers’ championship in 2019 and 2020 behind then-Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton.

But the last two seasons were especially tough. Last year, Bottas was driving uncompetitive Sauber machinery and was unable to score a point all season.

Sauber opted to get rid of both Bottas and Guanyu Zhou.

Bottas is a test and reserve driver for former team Mercedes, and for McLaren, this year.

“I’m sitting here now without a race seat. Not because of my own choice,” said Bottas.

“I definitely still feel, and that emotion was quick after I knew I wouldn’t get a seat for this year, that I’m not done yet with F1.

“I still have more to give. It’s still [the] No1 thing in my life.

“That sensation, now that I’ve been watching, has got stronger and stronger and stronger. Now I really start to miss racing.

“I feel like the way especially the last two years went for me in my career, it’s definitely not the way I want things to finish.

“End of last year, some qualifying, some races, I felt like I was performing at my best ever.

“I haven’t felt any degradation in myself yet! That’s why I just want to keep going. We humans, we have deg, but I don’t have it yet!”