Bottas returns to lead Cadillac’s F1 charge in 2026 season

October 8, 2025

Beijing Valtteri Bottas has spent the past year watching Formula One from the inside without ever taking part. Officially, he has been Mercedes’ reserve, attending briefings, analyzing data, and staying fit in case he was needed.

Unofficially, he has been a man waiting for another chance. That chance will come next season, when Bottas returns to the grid with Cadillac.

The American manufacturer’s arrival is a bold move from Detroit on F1’s global stage, and for Bottas, it represents a route back into a world he never wanted to leave.

“Getting this seat has been my target for a while,” he says. “This opportunity opened up, and I feel 100 percent good about it.” THE ULTIMATE TEAM PLAYER To understand the weight of this comeback, it helps to look back at Bottas’s years at Mercedes.

When he joined in 2017, it was to replace Nico Rosberg – the only man at that point to have beaten Lewis Hamilton in equal machinery. Bottas quickly learned the scale of that task, reports Xinhua.

For five seasons, he played the perfect lieutenant: quick enough to secure points, podiums, and the occasional victory, but never so quick that he threatened Hamilton’s authority. Between them, they delivered Constructors’ titles in each of Bottas’ years there.