Valtteri Bottas says he will take a fresh perspective into 2026 when he returns as a Formula 1 driver with Cadillac, following a year on the sidelines as Mercedes reserve.
Sauber opted to sign Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto to lead the team into the Audi era, signing both to two-year contracts that run through 2026 and leaving Bottas without a seat for the current season. The Finn returned to Mercedes to support George Russell and Kimi Antonelli, but next year he will be back on the grid with Cadillac and believes the year out has given him a better understanding of his role as a driver.
“Overall now when I look at it, it’s actually been a good year,” Bottas told RACER. “I’ve managed to secure my spot again as a race driver in Formula 1. And I had a year of learning things, being a bit on the other side of the team.
“When you’re a driver, you’re kind of in your own bubble with a limited amount of people that you work with directly. And especially when you’re out on track, you only really have one person that you communicate with. But now, being in the garage for all the sessions, listening to all the comms that are going on in different situations, I think I’ve actually learned quite a few things about teamwork and how things actually work while the car is on track.
“It has opened up my eyes a bit. I think this experience will help me in the future, knowing a bit more about how a team needs to operate and what needs to be the standards in different things.
“But also, I think it’s been a good year because it has made me appreciate the sport much more. To be a Formula 1 driver, one of the 20 – or next year, 22 – is very unique. And I’ll definitely have a different approach to the sport in that sense.”
While the Finn was keen to return to the grid in 2026, he insists he did not explore many other options outside of the Cadillac opportunity, given how attractive the new team’s project is.
“I set Cadillac as a priority quite early on this year,” he said. “So that was really the main focus. So that’s why any other discussions didn’t go too deep.
“For me, it was clear what I want. And in the end, when that happened, it made me obviously very, very happy and everything kind of worked out as planned.
“I did learn from last year that you should never get too confident. So I knew that I shouldn’t get too excited, even though there was lots of positive signs and words and feedback from the bosses. But I knew that until it’s done, just keep calm and do your thing. So, I definitely learned a lot about the politics of F1 last year.
“It felt great [to sign], of course. And almost like signing my first ever F1 contract, feeling-wise, it’s really cool.
“That day, announcement day in New York just made me realize, again, that I’m going to be a Formula 1 driver, which I appreciate much more now than what I did some years ago.”