Valtteri Bottas closes in on F1 return with Cadillac for 2026

Mercedes Formula 1 reserve driver Valtteri Bottas has emerged as a leading candidate to join the Cadillac squad when it enters the championship next season.

Senior figures at the nascent squad are due to be in attendance at the British Grand Prix at the start of next month - including team principal Graeme Lowdon and Dan Towriss, head of the TWG Group that has become the driving force behind the project.

Among the many meetings on the agenda at Silverstone, Towriss and his team will sit down with the management of the drivers with whom they are negotiating. The goal is to sign the first driver within a few weeks, while talks for the second seat could extend into September.

Since early spring there has been a lot of talk about potential candidates and Sergio Perez was understood to have been in pole position. But the Mexican's absence from the scene has cost him and he is no longer the only experienced driver on Lowdon’s list.

Bottas, meanwhile, has never hidden his desire to return to F1 full-time after being dropped by Sauber at the end of last season.

His name entered the Cadillac picture in recent weeks and he is understood to be considered the stronger candidate. The key question is what criteria the team leadership will use to make their decision.

Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

If the intention is to have two experienced drivers, Bottas isn’t in competition with Perez – they would likely be Cadillac team-mates in 2026. If instead the plan is to pair an experienced figure with a young talent, then the choice will be between Bottas and Perez, with the Finn holding a slight edge.

It's no coincidence that Bottas posted an intriguing video on his social media feeds this week, in which he comes across a Cadillac SUV on the street.

“What a nice seat,” he says as he places his hand on the driver’s seat, then adds: “I see there are two seats – both seem free.”

A voice off-camera invites him to try sitting down, but Bottas replies, “Not yet.”

Bottas has transformed his image via social media in recent years and this is yet another example of him using it to send messages. In this case, the intention couldn’t be more obvious.

If Cadillac opts for a combination of experience and youth, the first name on the list for the second seat is Felipe Drugovich. The Brazilian is in his third season as Aston Martin’s reserve driver but clearly has no real prospects within the Silverstone-based team’s plans.

The F1 paddock is rife with gossip that neither of the current Aston Martin drivers wants to see Drugovich in the cockpit for a meaningful track session, hence Lance Stroll’s money-no-object operation on his previously injured wrist between the Spanish and Canadian Grands Prix.

Like Bottas, Drugovich has turned down offers from other championships, determined to exhaust every possibility of securing a full-time F1 seat. So far, his search hasn’t yielded substantial opportunities, but the negotiation with Cadillac seems to be the most realistic one yet.