After a year on the sidelines, Valtteri Bottas returns to Formula 1 next season, prepared for the difficulty he knows the year will bring.
Alongside another returning driver, Sergio Pérez, they will form the lineup for Cadillac, which was confirmed as Formula 1’s 11th team in March.
“You can’t have super expectations to start with,” Bottas said in an interview in October. “It’s better to lower those expectations. It’s going to be hard starting everything from nothing.
“So there will be a lot of managing expectations for the first season, and especially the first quarter. We need to be realistic that it is going to take time, and I’m prepared for that. First, it will be about figuring out where we are. The most important thing is where we end up, and how quickly.”
Pérez, who has not been affiliated with any team or driven this year after he was released by Red Bull at the end of last season, said the speed of Cadillac’s progression was vital.
“For Valtteri and myself, this project is about how fast we can move the team forward,” he said, when he and Bottas were unveiled as Cadillac’s drivers in August. “To do that, it will be down to both of us, and the whole team, to integrate quickly”
“It’s a unique opportunity to be the first drivers in the team’s history,” he added. “We have something to build, which is what excites me the most.”
Graeme Lowdon, the Cadillac team principal, said the drivers knew how to succeed in Formula 1.
“But more importantly, they understand what it means to help build a team,” he said when the lineup was announced. “Their leadership, feedback, race-hardened instincts and of course their speed will be invaluable as we bring this team to life.”
Despite the combined 26 years of experience between the two drivers, Bottas said there would be no egos behind the wheel.
“He seems like an easy guy to work with, very calm,” Bottas said. “Like me, he’s also excited to get back in. And that’s the right word — exciting. What gives me confidence is that for now, everything seems to be on plan. There have been no big hiccups.
“And as a pair, we just make sense because we can really work together for the team, putting it first, instead of focusing on each other.”
Bottas was released by Sauber at the end of last season, after three years with the team, and moved to Mercedes as a reserve driver this season. He had driven for Mercedes from 2017 to 2021, during most of Lewis Hamilton’s six championship seasons, winning 10 Grands Prix and was runner-up to Hamilton twice in the drivers’ standings.
Although not racing, Bottas, of Finland, has been able to keep his hand in this year by driving in test sessions and Mercedes events. After the Mexico City Grand Prix in October, for example, he completed 112 laps at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez to help Pirelli test tires for next season.
“It’s quite a unique situation having a foot in both camps,” he said. “It’s fun. Of course, my priorities are with Mercedes. They are still my employer, and I’ve had to be ready for each weekend, just in case, so I’ve not been involved as much as Sérgio because I can’t.
“If I could, I would do more stuff with the team because there is a lot to prepare for, but I would say that when there have been key meetings, and the key information I can provide at this stage, we’ve had those conversations.”
He said he missed driving this year and sitting out was hard, “especially once you’ve done it for 12 years in a row.” But it has allowed him to learn important lessons he will take to Cadillac.
“I’m pretty sure there will be times when I’ll think, ‘That’s how Mercedes did it. Maybe it could work for us.’”
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