Valtteri Bottas confirms next step after Cadillac F1 agreement reached

Mercedes reserve driver Valtteri Bottas is to compete in this weekend’s Monsterrando cycling race, it has been confirmed.

It comes after PlanetF1.com reported that Bottas is closing in on a return to the Formula 1 grid with the new Cadillac team for the F1 2026 season.

Valtteri Bottas to participate in Monsterrando cycling race

Bottas was left without a seat for the F1 2025 campaign after Sauber elected to sign Gabriel Bortoleto as Nico Hulkenberg’s team-mate ahead of the team’s Audi F1 rebrand.

The Finn elected to return to Mercedes, the team with which he claimed all 10 of his F1 victories between 2017 and 2021, for this season.

Bottas has made no secret of his desire to regain a place on the grid for next year, with the 35-year-old emerging as a leading candidate to join the new Cadillac F1 team.

PlanetF1.com reported earlier this week that Bottas has reached an agreement to drive for Cadillac in F1 2026 with a deal close to completion.

If confirmed, Bottas is set to partner former Red Bull driver Sergio Perez in an experienced driver lineup for F1’s newest team.

As previously reported by PlanetF1.com, Perez is expected to be announced as a Cadillac F1 driver at next month’s Italian Grand Prix at Monza.

Valtteri Bottas closing in on return to Formula 1 with Cadillac F1

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Ahead of the resumption of the F1 2025 season at next weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix, it has been confirmed that Bottas will compete at the Monsterrando cycling race in Italy on Saturday.

Bottas will appear alongside his long-term partner and professional cyclist Tiffany Cromwell.

In a post on social media, the official account of the Monsterrando said: “We’re delighted to announce that Tiffany Cromwell and Valtteri Bottas, the world’s most famous gravel couple, will be participating in the Monsterrando on August 23rd!

“She’s a professional cyclist and multiple gravel champion. In 2025 alone, she won the following WE races: Unbound 100, UCI Seven Gravel Race, Australian Gravel Championship, RADL Gravel, and UCI Davis Cardigan Gravel.

“She already participated in the Monsterrando in 2022, finishing 4th.

“He’s a driver and F1 champion with 10 victories and over 60 podiums.

“He’s an avid gravel cyclist who has already participated in the 2024 World Finals and this year boasts a 3rd place finish at the Australian Gravel Championship.”

The news of Bottas’s next step comes after PlanetF1.com revealed that the former Williams driver will be forced to serve a grid penalty upon his likely return to F1.

Bottas was handed a five-place grid penalty in his final appearance for Sauber at the 2024 season finale in Abu Dhabi for causing a collision with Haas driver Kevin Magnussen.

A change to the sporting regulations for 2026 will see a penalty wiped from a drivers record if it is not served within a 12-month period after the related offence.

However, Bottas will still be forced to serve a penalty – most likely on his Cadillac debut at the 2026 Australian Grand Prix – as his punishment was awarded before the change to the rules.

An FIA spokesperson told PlanetF1.com: “Currently, the penalty will stand as there is no mechanism to retroactively amend the penalty that was applied under the regulations in force at the time.”

“The change of regulation is intended to avoid similar anomalous situations in the future.”

Read next: Why Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas make sense for Cadillac’s first driver line-up