Valtteri Bottas identifies key Cadillac priority with revolutionary new F1 cars

Valtteri Bottas’ return to an F1 cockpit left the Finn beaming, despite some minor setbacks during Cadillac’s test debut.

Cadillac joined all of its new F1 rivals for the first collective test of the season, with seven of the 11 teams taking to the track at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on Monday.

Valtteri Bottas: New cars are a ‘big difference’ from before

Coinciding with Cadillac’s test debut was the return of Valtteri Bottas, with the Finn making his maiden real-world track debut with the team.

All of Cadillac’s preparatory running has, so far, been carried out by new teammate Sergio Perez, as the Mexican was a free agent in 2025 after the split between himself and Red Bull after ’24.

For Bottas, who was a reserve driver with Mercedes last year, he was unable to take part in the team’s TPC outing at Imola in an older Ferrari, and missed out on a chance to drive at the team’s Silverstone filming day due to a schedule change.

But, on Monday, Bottas finally got his chance, and he clocked up 33 laps of the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya during the morning session before handing the car over to Perez for the second day.

While the team encountered some minor technical issues that restricted the two drivers to a grand total of 44 laps, most of which were exploratory installation laps, Bottas couldn’t keep the smile from his face as he spoke to the official F1 website after climbing out of the car.

Reflecting on his first drive in a car conforming to the revolutionary new F1 regulations, Bottas said the difference in feel was very evident.

“Yeah, it’s definitely a big difference from before… the cars, they handle differently,” he said.

“You 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.

“For Ferrari, this is the first proper day of running with their power unit. So naturally, there is a learning curve. So still lots to learn, lots to improve, but it’s quite a challenge for every team.”

With Cadillac set to run on two of the remaining four days of the week, the maximum permitted for every team in attendance in Barcelona, accumulating mileage will be the main focus for the remainder.

“The priority list now is get more laps each day,” he said.

“I think I got a bit more than 30 laps today. Some of them are just kind of installs and stuff.

“But yeah, we need to get some proper running in, get the mileage in, and make sure we get a reliable package for race one.”

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Valtteri Bottas: Debugging is why we’re here

Unsurprisingly, despite the relatively low lapcount accumulated by the new team, Bottas was thoroughly unconcerned by the issues that held the car back from getting more meaningful miles.

“It’s great to be back, and also with this brand new team in the sport, it’s a really, really unique situation,” he said.

“I really enjoyed getting back on track. It 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, but the main thing is we got some running done.

“At the end, we got a little bit longer run as well, so these are the first steps of debugging, and getting everything to work better.

“That’s why we’re here. It seems like every team had some issues.

“So yeah, it’s just about really figuring out goals and then getting more and more running each day.

“I really enjoy everything so far with the team; everyone is taking things with fresh eyes, with different angles.

“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 all the other teams.”

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