{"id":857416,"date":"2026-08-16T15:14:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-16T15:14:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/857416\/"},"modified":"2026-08-16T15:14:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-16T15:14:09","slug":"valtteri-bottas-faces-cadillac-f1-2027-threat-in-steiner-verdict","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/857416\/","title":{"rendered":"Valtteri Bottas faces Cadillac F1 2027 threat in Steiner verdict"},"content":{"rendered":"

Guenther Steiner believes Valtteri Bottas<\/a> is the Cadillac<\/a> driver most at risk of losing his seat for F1 2027, claiming the Finn has \u2018given up a little bit\u2019.<\/p>\n

Rumours began after the Canadian Grand Prix that suggested Bottas\u2019 days at Cadillac were numbered as his performance level had not met the team\u2019s expectations.<\/p>\n

Valtteri Bottas \u2018given up a little bit\u2019 as Perez \u2018just better at the moment\u2019 \u2013 Steiner<\/p>\n

Want more PlanetF1.com coverage? Add us as a preferred source on Google<\/a> to your favourites list for news you can trust.<\/p>\n

Although neither driver has scored a point in the team\u2019s debut campaign, Bottas<\/a> trails Sergio Perez in the head-to-head battles.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s 5-6 down in qualifying having narrowed his deficit by beating Perez in the last three qualifying sessions, including securing a season-high of P18 at the British Grand Prix.<\/p>\n

He also trails his teammate in the race head-to-head, but is ahead of him in the Drivers\u2019 standings by virtue of his P13 at the Chinese Grand Prix. That, though, was the only Grand Prix in which he finished ahead of Perez when both reached the chequered flag.<\/p>\n

Bottas\u2019 stats haven\u2019t been helped by four retirements in the last six races. Nor, claims Steiner, has Bottas\u2019 record been helped by the Finn seemingly giving up.<\/p>\n

Ranking Perez as a \u2018C-tier\u2019 and Bottas as \u2018D\u2019, Steiner told The Red Flags podcast: \u201cPerez is just better than him at the moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat he [Perez] tries to do, I think Valtteri has given up a little bit on it, looks like.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s just like he [Perez] wants to prove something, but I think Valtteri is more like the guy that\u2019s said, \u2018What can I prove with the equipment I have?\u2019. Checo is trying to give his 100 per cent all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Valtteri Bottas v Sergio Perez: Cadillac F1 2026 scores<\/p>\n

F1 2026: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between teammates<\/a><\/p>\n

F1 2026: Head-to-head race statistics between teammates<\/a><\/p>\n

Steiner went on to claim that if Cadillac does decide it wants to put a different driver in the car next season, it will be Bottas who loses his seat.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think in the moment they have to get the car better and to see what they are doing,\u201d Steiner said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut if they need to change one driver, obviously I think they\u2019re gonna change Valtteri. I mean his results are not as good, and I think Valtteri expected bad, but not this bad.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow it\u2019s like, \u2018hell yeah! I mean, I\u2019m driving a Formula 1 car, but I did a good job at Mercedes being the reserve driver because I was last as being the reserve driver because I didn\u2019t participate, and now I need to make all this effort to be last.’\u201d<\/p>\n

However, contrary to Steiner\u2019s comments, Bottas has no concerns about his future with Cadillac.<\/p>\n

So much so, he has bluntly stated that he won\u2019t be involved in this year\u2019s silly season.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe main thing is I know my situation,\u201d he told PlanetF1.com and other accredited media.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe team, immediately when we saw the rumours, the team came to me that these are completely false, and I also know what my situation is, so that\u2019s why it\u2019s fine, and it\u2019s nothing new in my career.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery driver, at some point, they\u2019re going to go through things like this.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, no silly season for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cadillac signed Bottas and Perez to lead the team into Formula 1 for its debut campaign, but while the team didn\u2019t announce the duration of either driver\u2019s contract, it was widely reported that they\u2019d signed multi-year deals.<\/p>\n

That, though, could mean a one-plus-one, with only the first year guaranteed, while the second season is activated only if conditions are met.<\/p>\n

Want to be the first to know exclusive information from the F1 paddock? Join our broadcast channel on WhatsApp<\/a> to get the scoop on the latest developments from our team of accredited journalists.<\/p>\n

You can also subscribe to the PlanetF1 YouTube channel<\/a> for exclusive features, hear from our paddock journalists with stories from the heart of Formula 1 and much more!<\/p>\n

Read Next:\u00a0Charles Leclerc weighs in after Toto Wolff comment sparks Vasseur rage<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Guenther Steiner believes Valtteri Bottas is the Cadillac driver most at risk of losing his seat for F1…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":857417,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,3550,817,813,816,3552,818,44,85,1512],"class_list":["post-857416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cadillac","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-guenther-steiner","tag-home-page","tag-news","tag-sports","tag-valtteri-bottas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=857416"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857416\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/857417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=857416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=857416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=857416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}