Valtteri Bottas randomly developed hearing problems when Nico Rosberg caught up with him ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix.<\/p>\n
The topic of a rather one-sided conversation revolved around a \u201crumour\u201d that Bottas has signed with the incoming Cadillac F1 entrant, though Bottas was pretending that he couldn\u2019t hear 2016 World Champion Rosberg on the Belgian Grand Prix grid.<\/p>\n
Is Valtteri Bottas on his way to Cadillac F1?<\/p>\n
Major changes are on the way for the 2026 Formula 1 season. Smaller, lighter cars will hit the grid, powered by new engines utilising a 50\/50 split between electrical power and an internal combustion engine running on fully-sustainable biofuels.<\/p>\n
In addition to that, there will be two new teams on the grid. Sauber will morph into the Audi F1<\/a> works team, while Cadillac will join as an 11th team on the F1 2026 grid.<\/p>\n There has been plenty of rumours over who Cadillac could turn to for their first F1 line-up, veterans Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez featuring prominently in the speculation, while former Haas driver and Mercedes reserve driver Mick Schumacher is also in talks with the American outfit.<\/p>\n Bottas replaced Schumacher as Mercedes reserve in time for the F1 2025 campaign, and ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix, Rosberg \u2013 on Sky F1 punditry duties at Spa \u2013 caught up with Bottas and attempted to get some answers on a \u201crumour\u201d that Bottas had signed on the dotted line with Cadillac.<\/p>\n It was such a shame that Bottas\u2019 hearing suddenly gave up on him at the worst possible time.<\/p>\n The exchange went as follows:<\/p>\n Rosberg: \u201cValtteri, new contract with Cadillac!\u201d<\/p>\n Bottas: \u201cSorry?\u201d<\/p>\n Rosberg: \u201cNew contract. Signing for Cadillac.\u201d<\/p>\n Bottas: \u201cI can\u2019t hear you, sorry.\u201d (said with a smile)<\/p>\n Rosberg: \u201cIt\u2019s just a rumour.\u201d<\/p>\n Bottas: \u201cThere\u2019s lots of rumours in this sport.\u201d<\/p>\n Rosberg: \u201cOkay, thank you very much for the confirmation!\u201d<\/p>\n How F1 2026 is shaping up<\/p>\n \ud83d\udc49\u00a0F1 2026 driver line-up: Who is already confirmed for the 2026 grid?<\/a><\/p>\n