Cadillac is on the verge of wrapping up development of its 2026 car to focus resources on the design for the next season. Valtteri Bottas confirmed that this shift in focus will happen soon, as the team seeks to capitalize on the lessons learned from its first year in Formula 1.
The American outfit is still preparing a few performance updates for the current car, but Bottas made clear they won’t be changes capable of completely turning the picture around: “We still have something coming in terms of performance, but nothing magical, nothing huge,” the Finn said.
According to the driver, Cadillac needs to decide soon when to direct all efforts toward the 2027 car: “Obviously, there comes a point when we need to shift our focus 100% to the next year, which is coming,” he said, noting that continuing to push forward will be possible, although major evolutions are increasingly difficult as other teams also introduce their latest updates.
Bottas and Sergio Perez have been directly involved in the car’s development with their feedback, while Cadillac progressed gradually through the first half of the season. The team even moved ahead of Aston Martin in the pecking order, before the rival unveiled an upgraded package at the Hungarian GP.
Although still distant from the most competitive positions, Bottas positively evaluated Cadillac’s response to the updates: “Everything we brought to the car made it faster, made it better, so that’s really positive for a new team,” he added.
The Finn stressed that the operation of the parts is not guaranteed in Formula 1 and regarded this aspect as especially promising for the future: “We didn’t take huge steps, but we did see progress,” Bottas concluded, noting that small improvements allowed Cadillac to gain the upper hand over Aston Martin when the rival had not yet updated its car.
For Bottas, this accumulated evolution helps explain the team’s progress throughout the season. Cadillac is now preparing to migrate resources to the 2027 project, while still hoping to squeeze out some additional performance from its current car.
