‘It’s great to be back’ – Valtteri Bottas explains the type of team he’s found at Cadillac amid first run at Barcelona Shakedown

Valtteri Bottas has given an insight into the type of team he has found during his early experiences of working with the new Cadillac outfit, having gained some mileage in their 2026 car at the Barcelona Shakedown.

After being announced as part of the American squad’s driver line-up – alongside Sergio Perez – back in August of last year, Bottas embarked on his first day with the team in December, where he spent time with colleagues and underwent a seat fit.

Now, several weeks on, the Finn has got behind the wheel of the outfit’s first-ever F1 car during the Barcelona Shakedown, where the team have joined most of their competitors in stress-testing their 2026 machines.

As well as being a new era for Cadillac, it also marks the beginnings of Bottas’ return to the grid, having spent 2025 on the sidelines as a Mercedes reserve driver.

“It’s great to be back, also with this brand-new team in the sport – it’s a really, really unique situation,” Bottas explained after the opening morning of the Barcelona Shakedown. “I really enjoyed getting back on track – this was the first time I drove this car, so it’s just good to be out there.

“Obviously performance-wise I wouldn’t say much yet – the main thing is we’ve got some running done. At the end we got a little bit longer run in, so these are the first steps of debugging and getting everything to work better.”

Reflecting further on the first morning of action in Barcelona, the 36-year-old continued: “It was cold! Early morning, it’s quite hard to get the tyres to work here, as we know. As the temperature picked up things got a bit better.

“We had some issues throughout the day. Like I said, it’s debugging – that’s why we’re here, and it seems like every team had some issues. It’s just now really figuring out those and then getting more and more running each day. But, like I said, it’s just great to be here and in the car.”

Bottas went on to assess how he has found his early experiences of working with Cadillac, with the Finnish racer praising the squad for the work they have put in so far as they prepare for their debut season in the sport.

“I really enjoy everything so far with the team,” he explained. “Everyone is looking at things with fresh eyes, with a different angle. We have lots of experience from different teams, and everyone has been working so hard to be here.

“Starting from zero, it’s a bigger challenge than what the other teams had, I think. So I’m very proud of everyone so far and I’m enjoying it.”

In terms of the challenge posed by the new regulations – and what the plan will be for the remainder of the Barcelona Shakedown – Bottas said: “It’s definitely a big difference to before. The cars handle different; we have a bit less load, especially in the high-speed corners.

“The PU, you have so much more torque out of the corners, but then you have the battery to manage. And again, for Ferrari this is the first proper day of running with their power unit, so naturally there’s a learning curve. Still lots to learn, lots to improve, but it’s quite a challenge for every team.

“The priority list now is get more laps each day – I think I got a bit more than 30 laps today, some of them just installs and stuff. We need to get some proper running in, get the mileage in and make sure we get a reliable package for race one.”