Valtteri Bottas says that he will take a new perspective in 2026 when he returns as a Formula 1 driver with Cadillac, after a year on the sidelines as Mercedes Reserve.
Sauber chose to sign Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto to lead the team to the Audi era, to both sign for two-year contracts that run through 2026 and leave Bottas without a chair 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 that the year has given him a better understanding of his role as a director.
“In general when I look at it, it has actually been a good year,” Bottas told Racer. “I managed to protect my place again as a racing driver in Formula 1. And I had a year of learning things, a bit on the other side of the team.
“If you are a driver, you are a bit in your own bubble with a limited amount of people with whom you work immediately. And especially if you are on the right track, you only have one person with whom you communicate. But now, in the garage are for all sessions, listening to all the comms that have been going on in different situations in different situations and how things are in the track, I really are in tracks.
“It has opened my eyes a bit. I think this experience will help me in the future, know more about how a team should work and what the standards should be in different things.
“But I also think it was a good year because it has let me appreciate the sport much more. To be a Formula 1 driver, one of 20 – or next year, 22 – is very unique. And I will certainly have a different approach to the sport in that sense.”
While the Finn wanted to return to the grid in 2026, he insists that he has not explored many other options outside the chance of Cadillac, given how attractive the project of the new team is.
“I set Cadillac as a priority quite early this year,” he said. “So that was really the most important focus. So other discussions did not go too deep.
“For me it was clear what I want. And in the end, when that happened, it clearly made me very, very happy and everything that has been worked out as planned.
“I learned from last year that you should never be too confident. So I knew that I should not be too excited, although there were many positive signs and words and feedback from the bosses. But I knew that until it is ready, just calm and doing your thing. So I certainly learned a lot about the politics of F1 last year.
“It felt great [to sign]Naturally. And almost like signing my very first F1 contract, it’s really cool, it’s really cool.
“That day, the announcement day in New York made me realize that I will be a Formula 1 driver, which I now appreciate much more than what I did a few years ago.”
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