Valtteri Bottas already in early talks for a return to F1, claims expert
F1 pundit Lawrence Barretto has claimed that Valtteri Bottas was already in talks with Cadillac/GM for an F1 return in 2026. This claim was made after Bottas joined Mercedes as a reserve driver for 2025.
In November 2024, Bottas announced that he would not be driving with the Stake F1 team from next year. The Swiss-based F1 team itself announced the Finn's departure from the team and that he was getting replaced by McLaren junior driver, Gabriel Bortoleto. Following this announcement there were many questions about where Bottas would go after Sauber.
After the 2024 F1 season ended, Mercedes announced that it hired Bottas as its reserve driver. While he will be assisting George Russell and Kimi Antonelli throughout the 2025 F1 season, rumors are already flying that Bottas could be looking to return to the grid with a future F1 team.
According to F1 presenter Lawrence Barretto, Valtteri Bottas has already held talks with the Cadillac/GM team for a seat when the team joins F1 in 2026. Barretto stated that Bottas signed with Mercedes to keep his toes dipped in F1 so that he could grab an opportunity to return to the sport.
"Valtteri Bottas has unfinished business with F1. He’s signed with Mercedes to keep himself in the conversation to find a race seat for 2026. He’s already had early talks about a potential seat at Cadillac/GM in 2026 #F1," Barretto tweeted.
The Finnish driver drove for the Silver Arrows from 2017 to 2021.
Valtteri Bottas on joining Mercedes as a reserve driver and answering his popular question, "What's next?"
Valtteri Bottas was delighted to announce his return to Mercedes as a reserve driver. In the official statement by the team, he stated that the question of "what's next" he has been asking on his social media platforms after his confirmed departure from Sauber was answered.
“I’m happy to finally answer the question I’ve posed over the past month. Returning home to the Mercedes family as Third Driver for 2025 is what’s next and I couldn’t be more pleased," Valtteri Bottas said.
“As I return to the place where so many of those moments were achieved, I’m looking forward to using all the knowledge I’ve gained to help the team to perform and progress towards our goal of fighting for world championships,” he added.
In his career with Mercedes, Bottas won 10 Grand Prix, stood on 58 podiums, and scored a total of 1327 points.