Final December, Mercedes accomplished its full Components 1 driver lineup when the staff introduced that Valtteri Bottas was returning as its reserve driver.
Bottas had spent 5 seasons in Brackley, serving to the staff safe 5 consecutive Constructors’ Championships. When Mercedes signed younger George Russell to drive for the staff forward of the 2022 season, it put Bottas on a path to Alfa Romeo, which then rebranded as Sauber, for the subsequent three seasons. However with Sauber signing Nico Hülkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto for 2025, Bottas wanted a brand new position, one he discovered along with his former staff.
When the transfer was introduced, Mercedes Group Principal Toto Wolff stated this partly: “Together with scoring a number of Grands Prix wins, he performed an important position in 5 of our championship victories. His technical suggestions and enter had been vital in serving to us to these successes and pushing the staff ahead.”
Cadillac, the incoming staff that can be part of the grid for the 2026 season, confirmed the worst-kept secret within the sport, saying that Bottas and fellow veteran Sergio Pérez would be the staff’s two drivers subsequent 12 months. Between the 2, Cadillac is gaining 527 Grand Prix begins, 16 Grand Prix wins, seven Constructors’ Championships, and 26 years of F1 expertise.
These 527 Grand Prix begins give Cadillac the third-most skilled driver pairing on the grid, behind Aston Martin (614 begins between Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll) and Ferrari (551 mixed begins between Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc).
Leaning into that have might give Cadillac an opportunity to compete early in its F1 journey, however extra importantly, it permits the staff to construct a strong basis for a fair higher future.
Which brings us to that Wolff quote.
Between Bottas and Pérez, the staff’s new drivers have seen every thing there’s to see in F1. They’ve seen what works within the storage, within the briefing room, alongside pit lane, and on the monitor. They’ve seen what setup adjustments can do for the automobile at each monitor on the F1 circuit. They’ve seen what wins championships.
They’ve additionally seen what doesn’t work on the grid.
Cadillac is constructing an F1 staff from the bottom up. They’re filling out each position inside the group, and maybe most significantly, they’re getting their very own energy unit program up and working. As Cadillac joins the F1 grid, a brand new set of laws arrives as properly, and each Bottas and Pérez have expertise coping with regulation adjustments given their time within the sport.
The expertise these two drivers convey to the desk will assist Cadillac alongside each single step of this journey.
Some might say that Cadillac performed it protected right here, and that the staff might have gone in a bolder course with youthful drivers, or tried to lure stars away from IndyCar or one other collection.
However what they’ve completed is place a wager on expertise and a powerful basis paying off sooner or later. These two drivers may help the staff construct out each aspect of an F1 operation, and their a long time of expertise — together with being on championship-winning groups — goes to assist Cadillac for years to return.
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