Joining a new Formula 1 team is usually about getting comfortable with someone else's philosophy. For Valtteri Bottas at Cadillac, it has meant the opposite: writing parts of that philosophy himself.
"Well, I've never been part of designing a steering wheel layout or, you know, choosing the exact buttons for the wheels and uh, you know, example, choosing the very own steering ratio," Bottas said. "I want stuff like that. You know, there's so much more you can do when you start as a new team when you're not really carrying any habits or or bits from from the past. You know, you can really be part of designing everything in in in a car, which is really cool."
That level of access is exactly what Cadillac was hoping to get when it hired two drivers who have collectively spent years inside dominant teams. The team is betting that Bottas and Sergio Perez can import shortcuts that would otherwise take a rookie operation years of painful learning to discover on its own.
"We do. You know, I think we've both seen a lot in the sport. you know, we've seen uh what works with a good team. We've also both seen what doesn't quite work, you know. So, we've seen the good and bad," Bottas said of the pairing. "I think we have good understanding on what the team needs, what the car needs, how the team needs to operate to to be at the best level. So, I think together also with the mindset that we both have that we are definitely putting the team first instead of us and that's going to hopefully help us to improve quicker."
Bottas is explicitly optimistic about Cadillac's rate of climb.
"It should be and I think it will be. You know, we've already come a long way from from the first shakedown. It's going to be pretty rapid improvement from here and me and Czecho from every session. There's always pretty long list of things we we can do better," he said.
Pundits have begun to echo that read, pointing to a small but consistent upward curve in Cadillac's race pace since the opening rounds.
"From the first GP to now, they've been able to finish races. Their pace has continuously gotten a little bit better. They're adding little updates here and there, but a big package is expected from Miami," one analyst observed.
Arguably the bigger story, though, is what happened to Bottas during his year out of the sport. Away from the grid, he says, he rediscovered the basic thrill of being on the grid in the first place.
"Absolutely. You know, for me, it's made a big difference. Like I appreciate being part of the sport. I appreciate the sport, everything around it much more than than before," Bottas said. "And and especially like the racing side of it. Like for me the whole process on Sunday, you know, the you get ready, you jump in the car, get to the grit, you do the national anthem, you know, you just have this appreciation um of everything that we are so lucky to be there, you know. So um for me it has made a huge difference and I think it can help me in the years ahead."
He has also set the internal team dynamic publicly.
"No number twos or if they're number twos," Bottas said of the partnership with Perez.
When away from the paddock, Bottas has increasingly been based in McLaren Vale, South Australia — a property he describes as close to perfect.
"Well, it's um to me this is paradise. You know, you got I I feel like I have everything I need here. It's so nice to have a place in Australia. My better half, Tiffany is from Australia and yeah, I've been looking for a place for a couple of years now," he said.
Cadillac is still at the start of its story on the grid, but between steady upgrades, drivers recruited for exactly this kind of greenfield project, and a genuine appetite to build from zero, there is a credible case that it will climb the grid faster than most of its rivals expect.