Mercedes boss Toto Wolff believes that Valtteri Bottas is fully deserving of a Formula 1 comeback, amid the Finn\u2019s links to the Cadillac F1 Team ahead of their debut 2026 season.<\/p>\n
Bottas dropped off the F1 grid at the end of 2024, having lost a race seat at Kick Sauber, which led to him rejoining Mercedes in a reserve role alongside regular drivers George Russell and Kimi Antonelli.<\/p>\n
Although he has not been racing, Bottas is still playing a key role at the Silver Arrows \u2013 a team he previously raced with from 2017 to 2021 \u2013 through simulator work and his presence at the track.<\/p>\n
With the aforementioned Cadillac<\/a> team set to arrive on the grid next year, and 10-time Grand Prix winner Bottas one of the names being tipped for a drive, Wolff has shown his support.<\/p>\n \u201cValtteri has been part of the Mercedes family for a long, long time,\u201d began Wolff, talking in a mid-season review video for his team\u2019s social media channels.<\/p>\n \u201cHe is a driver that, if some of our guys would have fish poisoning, you put him in the car and he\u2019s going to be absolutely on [the] pace. That\u2019s great to know, that your reserve and third driver is as quick as it gets.<\/p>\n \u201cBut obviously, with Valtteri, he deserves a race seat. Hopefully that door is going to open. Watch this space.\u201d<\/p>\n Bottas himself has described Cadillac\u2019s project as \u201cvery interesting\u201d \u2013 the operation being backed by TWG Motorsports and General Motors<\/a>, and led by former Virgin Racing\/Marussia chief Graeme Lowdon<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201c[It\u2019s] something new to F1, an American team with maybe a different view to the sport,\u201d he told F1\u2019s Beyond The Grid podcast<\/a> earlier this year. \u201cIf I would be there as a driver, it would be actually very interesting because you can start from scratch.<\/p>\n \u201cThe team starts from zero. You could actually make a big influence on certain things, which direction to go, and that would be very motivating and rewarding when the success comes.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the rule change is always a good point to jump in because you just never know, if you suddenly get it right you might actually be doing really well from the get-go.\u201d<\/p>\n