Less than a year after Veltteri Bottas was released by Formula One team Kick Sauber, the Finn appears to be pole position to land a seat back on the grid for 2026. Until now he has been the favourite to become Cadillac’s experienced driver with Bottas making a social media post with him admiring one of the General Motors cars.

Whilst under the Andretti banner during the application process to the FIA, the eleventh team elect suggested they would bring a US born driver into the sport. Yet the chosen son, Colton Herta from California, has failed to live up to his young gun Indycar billing as Spaniard Alex Palou is dominating the US racing series and heading towards his fourth championship this season.

Whilst the American theme remains with the team rebranded as Cadillac, for political reasons, the noises emanating from Graham Bowden – team boss – are the emphasis on the drivers may well have shifted.

 

 

 

Mercedes agree Bottas release

As Kimi Antonelli is proving despite huge expectations, rookie F1 drivers cannot deliver the results of their more experienced team mates. And with Cadillac entering their first year in the toughest championship in motorsport, they’ll need all the inout and feedback from their drivers as they can get.

Sergio Perez has also been in the frame for a drive with Cadillac next season, and his presence at the Miami Grand Prix sent the paddock rumour mill into overdrive. Its reported the Mexican has more than one option in rejoining the F1 circus although the news today may suggest that one door could be closing imminently.

Mercedes are reported to have agreed in principal to release Bottas from his reserve role within the team to replace the hopeful Franco Colapinto. The Argentinian impressed when initially he was called up by Williams to replace the hapless Logan Sargeant, yet big smashes during the final events of the year meant Red Bull withdrew their interest.

Williams released Franco earlier this season to Alpine as a potential replacement for the pointless Jack Doohan who after just six race weekends of the year was benched in favour of the Argentinian. His qualifying efforts have been poor when compared to his team mate Pierre Gasly and the count between their now stands at 4-1 in favour of the French driver.

Marko opens up on Vettel at Red Bull

 

 

 

Colapinto disaster

Yet the reality of the numbers is even more startling when considering Colapinto on average has started each Grand Prix 4.69 places behind his team mate although his average ran finish positions is just a tad under 3 lower than Gasly. Alpine are rooted to the bottom of the championship with just under half the points of Kick saucer ahead of them on 20 and of their three drivers to take the wheel this season, only Gasly has scored points for the team.

The F1 team now branded as Alpine are in transition once again, with their five year plan to return to the front of the grid lying in tatters. The departure this month of Luca de Meo from the parent company Renault’s board has left the F1 project somewhat in Limbo with stand in team principal Flavio Briatore now reporting directly into the Renault main board.

There have been persistent paddock whispers that Renault are lining up the team for sale, having closed their power unit facility in Viry-Chatelet. The team will become a Mercedes customer for power trains next season as the flamboyant Italian once in charge of the team 20 years ago looks for a more reliable supply than Renault have offer the past decade.

With his initial five race deal now complete after the Austrian Grand Prix, the line from Alpine has been that he will remain with the team for the indefinite future. However, that deadline races ever closer since Mercedes have agreed with Valtteri the terms on which he can race for Alpine this year.

Hamilton: More Ferrari criticism 

 

 

 

Synergy with Mercedes power units

Just as Carlos Sainz struggled this year adapting to the Mercedes powertrain at Williams, Alpine may well believe Bottas with his more than half a decade driving for the Brackley based squad can supercharge their own development programme given his intimate understanding of the Mercedes power unit.

With Bottas embedded within the Mercedes F1 programme, he will be seen as a better candidate given Perez’s complete absence from the sport this season. Should Colapinto be sacked from his role at Alpine, Bottas is immediately available and up to speed with the current car designs and their handling in the simulator.

With back to back race weekends from Austria to the British Grand Prix, Colapinto is sure to have at least one more outing guaranteed with Alpine. A seat fitting and other premieres for a new driver are better conducted when the timescale is not so short. The reality is Colapinto has not been an upgrade over Doohan and should he fail to score at the British Grand Prix both he and Dothan will be the only ones rooted to the bottom of the drivers’ championship having failed to score in 2025.

Sacking? Ferrari boss bails on Austrian GP

 

 

 

Piastri F-bomb over Colapinto move

The missing points from the second Alpine seat occupied by two rookies to date this season, is costing the team dear as a driver with the similar tally to Gasly, would see them in the fight for eighth place alongside Kick Sauber and the Silverstone based Aston Martin teams.

McLaren fans were angry with Franco Colapinto after his performance last weekend in the Styrian Hills, given whilst a lap down he ran potential race winner Oscar Piastri almost fully onto the grass. The mild mannered Piastri who escaped his junior contract with Alpine to move to world champions McLaren, was clearly upset with the Argentinian.

Now in his third season with McLaren, the normally reserved Australian said over team radio: “Alpine still managed to find a way to fuck me over all these years later, huh.” Bottas with his ten F1 Grand Prix victories is joint 31st in the all time list of race winers along with the likes of James Hunt and Jodie Scheckter. He sits only behind Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen and Fernando Alonso in the list of all time winners who are racing today.

 

 

 

Wolff yet again talks Verstappen to Mercedes

Bizarre admission from Wolff over Russell new deal – As Formula One arrived in the Styrian hills this weekend in Austria, the talk of the paddock was the lack of a new contract for George Russell. The British driver has been with the Mercedes driver programme for around a decade and served his F1 apprenticeship with Williams from 2019 to 2021.

There was talk late in 2020 that Russell may move up to replace Valtteri Bottas alongside Lewis Hamilton, but the seven times world champion was vocal in his support for his Finnish team mate. With Hamilton going dark after his failure to claim the record eighth drivers championship, Mercedes moved over the winter to offer George the second seat at Mercedes AMG F1.

Far from being intimidated by his legendary team mate, Russell claimed his maiden F1 victory in 2022 at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix and eclipsed Hamilton in the final driver standings in Abu Dhabi. As Hamilton’s woes worsened with the new ground effect cars, Russell appeared unfazed by the situation at Mercedes and before Lewis departed for Ferrari, Russell again bested his team mate in 2024…. READ MORE