Valtteri Bottas will make his Formula 1 comeback in 2026 with new entry Cadillac, alongside fellow returnee Sergio Perez.

The Finn will return to racing full-time after a year spent on the sidelines as the Mercedes third driver, in which he has played a crucial role in their trackside operations on race weekends and helping Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

After several months of speculation over who would be in the seat at Cadillac, a deal has finally been reached and he will race with the American outfit who will become F1’s 11th team.

Perez also joins Cadillac following his disastrous final stint at Red Bull, although the Mexican has earned more respect in the paddock after their trouble with Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda.

Bottas’ future was the subject of a few rumours, including a potential switch to Alpine off the back of their power unit deal with Mercedes. The Finn has explained in the latest F1 Nation podcast why he chose Cadillac over the Alpine project.

Photo by Paddocker/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Valtteri Bottas admits there were talks with Alpine

Alpine has been by far the slowest team on the grid in 2025, with their change of drivers between Jack Doohan and Franco Colapinto seemingly yielding no improvements.

They currently lie last in the Constructors’ Championship after a breakthrough for Sauber at the British GP with Nico Hulkenberg’s podium, but much of their focus is now switched to 2026.

Even though Alpine will be running Mercedes power units, rumoured to be the best in 2026, Bottas felt that the Cadillac project had more to offer.

“There was some talks, of course, with other teams such as Alpine, but yeah, in my mind, I was quite set early on this year,” said Bottas.

Valtteri Bottas says Cadillac was always the ‘priority’ after leaving Sauber

Bottas originally had ambitions to join the Audi project after Sauber, but internally Andreas Seidl felt he was not bringing in the results.

After being ousted at the end of 2024, it came as no surprise given they suffered one of their worst competitive runs in the three years he was at the team.

Bottas revealed that he initiated talks with Cadillac’s Graham Lowdon as early as 2023: “For me, the priority was always about Cadillac. I had my first talks with Graham two years ago, so it’s a long time. And earlier this season, it became very clear to me that that’s what I want.”

The Finn has already noted that Cadillac are similar to Mercedes, in that they have the hunger to win titles. He will be hopeful they can emerge as a competitive force early into the 2026 ruleset.