– Valtteri Bottas has reacted clearly to the recent speculations about his future at Cadillac. After the Finn was confronted with alleged exit or dismissal rumors following a disappointing start to the season, and especially after the Monaco weekend, he now makes it unequivocally clear what he thinks of the corresponding reports.
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Although he has been confronted with similar speculations several times in his long Formula 1 career, this time he was particularly annoyed by the way the story came about. “That’s part of the sport. It’s not the first time I’ve been confronted with such rumors,” explains Bottas.
However, he said it was “a bit of a shame that someone just makes up complete bullshit.” The Cadillac driver also emphasizes that the headlines had no internal impact whatsoever. His situation within the team is clearly defined, and those responsible continue to fully support him.
“I know my situation, the team knows my situation. They support me 100 percent. That’s why it was fine for me in the end,” the Finn clarifies.
Clicks instead of facts?
When asked what motive could be behind the rumors, Bottas has a clear suspicion. For him, it’s primarily about attention. “Headlines, clicks – that’s my theory,” he says.
The statements show that Bottas has indeed noticed the discussions, but does not attach much importance to them. Much more important for the 36-year-old is probably the sporting situation. Because while teammate Sergio Perez recently regularly got the maximum out of the Cadillac package, Bottas experienced a difficult weekend, especially in Montreal.
After the Canadian Grand Prix, the question arose as to why the performance difference within the team was so large at times. Now Bottas has for the first time given concrete indications of what was behind his deficit.
“We looked at it again together with the team last week,” he reports. Although another debriefing is still pending, the engineers have already identified several causes.
“We were able to identify problems on both the power unit side and the vehicle setup,” Bottas reveals. The Finn did not want to give more details. However, it is crucial that the causes can now be understood. “We can see the reasons, and that’s good.”
Problems with the car confirmed
Bottas thus makes it clear that the difficulties were not solely due to his driving style. Rather, there were concrete problems with his vehicle.
The team must now continue to work on improving the quality of the processes. This particularly concerns the assembly of the car and the installation of various components. “We need to continue to work on quality, on how we build the car, how we assemble all the parts and things like that,” he explains.
When asked directly whether the identified problems have now been resolved, Bottas is optimistic. “I am confident. I think we now understand what went wrong.”
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His answer becomes even clearer when he is asked whether his car in Montreal actually did not perform at the same level as Perez’s. “Correct,” Bottas briefly confirms. “Yes.”
With this, the Finn provides an explanation for the noticeable performance differences within the team and at least partially refutes the criticism of his season’s performance so far.
Learning process at Cadillac continues
Bottas also places the problems in the broader context of a young team. Cadillac is in its debut season and had to establish many processes for the first time under real racing conditions. According to the Finn, this includes various simulation and tuning tools that have only been in use for a few months.
“During testing, in Melbourne, and also later, we used some of these tools for the first time,” explains Bottas. These included set-up tools and various processes related to vehicle construction.
Against this background, it is not surprising that the team is currently still struggling with certain fluctuations. “It’s somewhat to be expected that we are still lacking some consistency at the moment.”
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At the same time, Bottas sees clear progress. The team now understands the weaknesses much better and can work on them specifically. “At least for me, this weekend we really understood these things, and we can improve them.”
Hope through new upgrades
Bottas draws additional optimism from the technical developments that Cadillac intends to bring to the track in the coming weeks. This weekend, among other things, a new rear wing will be used. The Finn hopes that the updates can bring the team further important tenths of a second.
“Of course, I expect us to take another step forward in all areas this weekend,” he says. The direction of development is fundamentally positive for him. It is particularly important that Cadillac continuously produces new parts despite the difficult starting position.
“It’s great to see that new parts are coming practically every race,” explains Bottas. This includes not only aerodynamic components but also mechanical improvements. Especially given the current position in the field, this development boost is urgently needed.
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“At the moment, we are very far behind. We have to get out of there.” The way there is clear: better processes in vehicle construction, more consistency in operations, and a continuous stream of new updates. “That’s exactly what we need,” emphasizes Bottas. “That’s why it’s good to see new parts coming.”
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