Bottas future in doubt as Cadillac weighs Herta for Mexico practice
NXTbets Pro | Published On: October 29, 2026
Bottas contract talks
Cadillac is keeping Valtteri Bottas in the frame, but it has not committed to the option that would keep him in the seat for the next season, and the team’s second seat remains open. Rumors swirled during the United States Grand Prix weekend that Bottas could lose the ride, but the team has not made that move. Cadillac CEO Dan Towriss said the team is talking about its driver plans, and he said Bottas has had races off the race pace. He also made clear the team still values Bottas’s leadership and feedback. Cadillac team principal Marcin Budkowski declined to discuss driver contracts, which left the public picture unchanged. The team wants to keep Bottas if it can, yet it is still weighing whether to activate the option that comes with his return to Formula 1. That uncertainty sits at the center of Cadillac’s early driver planning, and it keeps the focus on what the team sees in Bottas beyond raw pace. Cadillac’s debut Formula 1 season has been scoreless, and that has shaped the conversation around the lineup. The team has learned what it can from the first year and now has to decide how much stability it wants to build into the next step. Bottas, for his part, said anything can happen in Formula 1 and said he has been assured of the contract terms he signed last year. He also said Cadillac’s debut-season issues have made it hard to judge the internal battle with Sergio Perez, even as the team sorts out the future around him.
Herta Cadillac push
Colton Herta remains the leading alternative for Cadillac’s second seat, and General Motors is pushing for him. Herta is already Cadillac’s test driver, which keeps him close to the program and in position if the team decides to change course. Cadillac will also put him in Bottas’s car for first practice in Mexico. Herta is trying to complete the 100-kilometer requirement needed for the 40 FIA Super Licence points he still needs, and that effort gives the team another practical reason to keep working him into the program. He moved from IndyCar to Formula 2 in 2026 to chase the Super Licence points required for Formula 1, a step that showed how much he wanted the path to the championship. The team is evaluating options while it weighs pace, feedback and fit. That makes him the clearest challenger to the current lineup picture, and it keeps the pressure on Cadillac to decide how it wants to use the rest of its resources.
Cadillac Formula 1 outlook
Bottas’s situation sits inside a wider Cadillac picture. He came to the team on a multi-year deal, and Cadillac has already committed to Perez on a long-term basis, so the remaining question centers on how the team wants to fill the last opening. That decision matters because the first season has offered little in the standings and a reset is not simple. Cadillac has said it values Bottas’s leadership and feedback, even while it keeps the second seat open and keeps looking at other choices. It has one driver locked in, one driver whose future is still being discussed and one test driver pressing for the seat. Bottas said the internal fight is difficult to judge because of the team’s debut-season problems, and that is the reality Cadillac now faces. The organization still has to decide how to settle its lineup and move forward.
