Bottas says Cadillac board has yet to meet on 2027 plans

Speaking on Thursday, Valtteri Bottas said speculation about his Cadillac seat had surprised him, but he was convinced nothing had changed. He believed the board meeting required to approve future plans had yet to take place. The feedback he had heard, he said, was that “the team has been happy with what I'm doing.”

Colton Herta earned the final superlicence point needed to race in Formula 1 during Friday practice at Interlagos, giving Cadillac another option for 2027. He completed the required 100km in his sixth Friday practice session of the 2026 season to secure his 40th point.

Cadillac had thought Herta reached the 40-point threshold after Mexico, but confusion over his previous IndyCar results left him one point short. The team put him in Sergio Pérez’s car for another Friday practice session in Brazil to earn the missing point.

Bottas has underperformed relative to teammate Sergio Pérez, while Cadillac’s debut car has also suffered problems; a suspension failure caused Bottas’s high-speed crash in Mexico. Bottas said the team had bigger problems than its drivers and that Cadillac had not delivered a car he could do much with. He said he joined to help improve the team for the future, not with a mindset of fighting for his seat.

Several other drivers have held private talks with Cadillac or publicly applied for Bottas’s seat, including Mercedes reserve Frederik Vesti. Cadillac is considering retaining Bottas alongside Pérez for a second year or giving Herta his F1 debut in 2027.