Mercedes Clear Bottas for Early Cadillac Start

Valtteri Bottas will begin contributing to Cadillac’s new Formula 1 project this year despite remaining under contract as Mercedes’ reserve driver.

The Finn was unveiled alongside Sergio Perez as Cadillac’s first F1 lineup at a New York event, with team boss Graeme Lowdon emphasising Mercedes’ willingness to be flexible.

“I would like to express my thanks to all the people at Mercedes, especially Toto (Wolff), who have been extremely supportive in our discussions with Valtteri and have been extremely helpful in coordinating a smooth transition at the right time.

“I have a lot of respect for Mercedes and it’s good to see that they are also showing the respect for Valtteri. I think everyone wants to see him racing on the grid again. Toto has been very helpful in that regard so I want to put that on record.”

Bottas confirmed that he will balance both roles for the remainder of the year.

“My work will start (at Cadillac) but as Graham said, I’m still under contract with Mercedes and will continue to be there every race weekend as a reserve,” he explained.

“As a result, my time available will be limited. I won’t go into the details of how, when and where, but I will be involved in any important decisions that are made before the first test.”

Perez, meanwhile, admitted his own on-track activity has been limited since being ousted by Red Bull at the end of last year. “I’ve stayed fit, although in recent months I’ve only been karting with my son,” said the Mexican.

“But there are plans with the team to have me driving a Formula 1 car before the end of the year.”

That remains a challenge, as Cadillac obviously has no TPC (Testing of Previous Cars) chassis in-house. “But we will be doing some track testing this year,” Lowdon admitted.

“Of course, to do that we will have to cooperate with others, but that is perfectly permitted under the rules.”

The early running will be especially important for Perez, but also for Bottas, who has only had occasional track outings in 2025 as Mercedes’ reserve.

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