Valtteri Bottas says normal for some to make bullsh stories for headlines and clicks on his Cadillac F1 drive, as he reveals cars issues in Canada.
After Haas’ Esteban Ocon termed stories of his tussle with Ayao Komatsu and departure as bullshit in Canada, Cadillac’s Bottas has done the same in his written media briefing in F1 Monaco GP. The Finn termed the stories done for ‘headlines’ and ‘clicks’ mainly.
Between the races in Canada and Monaco, reports floated in media about Cadillac potentially dropping Bottas after F1 2026 to make way for American star Colton Herta in the driving seat. The former IndyCar driver is currently racing in F2 in his last effort to compete in the pinnacle series.
Bottas terms it complete bullshit for headlines, clicks
For now, Bottas has played down the stories, noting that he has 100% support from Cadillac’s management. “Well, it’s part of the sport,” he said in a print media session. “It’s not the first time. I’ve faced these kind of rumors, but it’s a bit of a shame that somebody just makes up complete bullshit.
“But that’s normal in this sport. And I know my situation. The team knows my situation. They support me 100%, so that’s why, from my side, it was okay in the end. [It has been done for] headlines, clicks. That’s my theory,” summed up Bottas.
Performance difference with Perez
It’s been only five races into F1 2026 and Cadillac’s journey, but rumours have already started about his future. But the gap between him and Sergio Pérez has only made it difficult for the Finn. There was visible difference between the performances of the two drivers in Canada.
Pérez had a freak suspension failure, but until then he had a good run when compared to Bottas. In his defence, the Finn revealed that Cadillac found issues on the power unit and car build side, when compared with the Mexican’s car post-race. He didn’t wish to give anything else on the topic.
Bottas reveals issues compared to Pérez’s car in Canada
“Yes, we still have, later this afternoon, another meeting, but I catched up with the team last week about it,” continued Bottas. “Yeah, we could see issues, both on the PU side and the car build side. That’s as much as I can give you, but we can see reasons, which is good to see.
“But yeah, we need to keep working on the quality, on how we build the car, how we fit all the parts, and so on. I’m confident. I think we understand now what has been going wrong,” summed up Bottas, as he reiterated when asked to clarify that the two F1 cars indeedhad differences in Canada.
“Correct [there was something wrong on my car in comparison to Pérez’s in Canada],” he said. The Finn is not blaming Cadillac for the differences, though. He understands and expects lapses from the American team at this stage, considering it is all new for them in F1.
Understandable issues but hopes for fixes
However, he hopes that Cadillac can resolve it soon and improve on it, with updates to come. “I think it’s understandable,” said Bottas. “In testing this year, in Melbourne this year, some of the tools we’re using for the first time, the set-up tools, set-downs and all these.
“It’s kind of expected that we can lack a bit of consistency for now, but at least for me this weekend we’re really understanding these things and we can improve those. Of course, I’m expecting us to make another step on everything this weekend and also with some upgrades, like the new rear wing. Hopefully that will give us a bit more again,” summed up Bottas.
