One of two ‘Australian’ drivers on the F1 2026 grid, Valtteri Bottas says if anyone is going to beat him to the World title in his debut campaign with Cadillac, he is “rooting for my fellow Aussie” Oscar Piastri.
After a year on the sidelines as a Mercedes reserve driver, Bottas is returning to the Formula 1 grid this year with Formula 1’s brand new team, Cadillac.
Valtteri Bottas rooting for ‘fellow Aussie’ Oscar Piastri
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Given the sport’s all-new regulations, Cadillac’s timing couldn’t be better.
Last year, Formula 1 bid farewell to the ground-effect aerodynamic cars, a year in which McLaren dominated the first half of the season to secure the championship double.
The sport has now moved onto cars incorporating active aerodynamics. It is the biggest regulatory reset in Formula 1’s history.
The new cars will be shorter and lighter than their predecessors and use movable front and rear wings, while a new engine formula will see the cars run on sustainable fuel with a 50-50 split between electrical and combustion power.
It means the teams step into the unknown this season, every one on a level playing field with the all-new cars.
Piastri was the hot favourite to win the F1 2025 title as he surged to a 34-point lead over Lando Norris at the Dutch Grand Prix, but a troubled second half of the season, where he struggled in low-grip conditions and with the characteristics of the tracks, saw him drop from first to third behind Norris and Max Verstappen.
He finished the championship 13 points behind his victorious McLaren teammate in one of the closest championship fights between more than two drivers since 2010’s four-way tussle.
Lando Norris v Oscar Piastri: McLaren 2025 head-to-head scores
👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between team-mates
👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates
Piastri’s troubles, which ignited in the wake of McLaren’s Monza team orders where he was told to give second place back to Norris after a botched pit stop for the Briton meant Piastri was ahead on the track, led to speculation that McLaren was favouring its British driver.
From claims that because Norris was British to because he was there first, it was said on social media – and unfounded in the real world – that McLaren wanted Norris to win the Drivers’ Championship title.
McLaren, however, stood firm in its papaya motto of being fair to both drivers, the reasoning behind the Monza team orders as Norris had done nothing wrong in the pit stop.
Bottas, who knows too well the difference between fairness and number one, says no one, unless they are entrenched in the McLaren camp, will know the true story.
The Cadillac driver, who now lives in Australia with Tiffany Cromwell in Adelaide, explained the situation to 10 Sport.
Speaking to the broadcaster at the local budgie-smuggler-laden RADL GRVL race, Bottas made it clear the hopes his “fellow Aussie” would come out on top this season, if of course, Cadillac cannot.
“It’s hard to say when you are not, you know, inside, you’re not with the team, what’s going on internally,” he told 10 Sport of Piastri’s 2025 campaign.
“All I know if this sport sometimes is not fair. That’s what it is.
“Oscar had a great season, but his first half was definitely better than the second half.
But he still only has a few years in the sport; it is amazing he’s already doing so well.
“So he’s got a great future ahead of him. Many opportunities ahead of him. So if he had himself a bit of a dip, I’m sure he’s learned from it.”
Put to him that the Aussie is “your competitor now”, Bottas replied: “Yeah, no, if somebody is going to win, I’m rooting for my fellow Aussie.”
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