Is Bottas waiting for a career-defining phone call? Anything can happen in F1, he says of his future

Heading into the United States Grand Prix weekend, the prevailing view was that only Haas and Racing Bulls had yet to officially finalise their driver line-ups. Haas had not confirmed Ollie Bearman’s stay, although that was merely a formality, while Racing Bulls were still undecided over Liam Lawson. In Austin, however, speculation began to swirl around Valtteri Bottas’s future, fuelled further by team principal Marcin Budkowski and chief executive Dan Towriss.

When Bottas said at the start of the year that he had a contract with Cadillac for 2027, and his comments were subsequently confirmed by then-team principal Graeme Lowdon, the matter appeared settled. Over the United States Grand Prix weekend, however, reports began circulating that Cadillac was considering a change.

Budkowski first confirmed that the driver line-up for 2027 had not been decided, before Towriss went further, saying Colton Herta still had a chance of reaching F1 and hinting at dissatisfaction with Bottas’s performances. “I think over the next few weeks we’ll be able to talk more about what we’re doing on drivers. Obviously we’ve got Checo and Valtteri on contract, we love what they’re doing. Obviously Valtteri has had a few races where he’s been off the race pace,” Towriss told RACER.

So Bottas has a contract, but in Formula 1 that does not necessarily mean anything. After the race in Austin, where he once again ran at the back in the slowest car, he sounded less certain than he had at the start of the year. Valtteri has experienced enough in Formula 1 to know that a signed contract means nothing in this business.

Asked whether he had been assured he would stay for next season, Bottas replied: “Yes, last year when I signed, I know the terms.”

“I mean, it is Formula 1. You know, if cows could fly… anything can always happen in this sport. But for now, they seem happy what they’re getting out of me. So I think that’s still all that matters,” the Finnish driver added.

Cadillac, meanwhile, has already confirmed that Colton Herta will drive in first practice in Mexico. The team has already fielded a rookie four times this season, as required by the regulations. Herta’s fifth outing means only one thing – Cadillac wants to secure another point for him and get him his superlicence. Moreover, ahead of the Mexican Grand Prix, the team signed a new long-term contract with Sergio Pérez. There was no mention of his team-mate.

Bottas looks unlikely to come out on top in the battle with his team-mate this season. After all the problems, however, he rejects the idea that a representative comparison can be made between them. “I would say it’s impossible to get a read. You know, on a year like this with so many issues, and the problem is sometimes we don’t quite understand them,” Valtteri said.

“So it’s really still a steep learning curve to go, but at least today everything seemed to work okay, and that’s why we had the same pace with Checo. But there’s been lots of things in the background that maybe not everyone sees, like the brake management demand of having to deal with that and all these things, but at the same time, like I said, sometimes there’s been some issues that we are struggling in seeing,” Bottas added.