Ralf Schumacher admits he has one question mark over Cadillac signing Valtteri Bottas

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The decision that everybody has been waiting for has finally been made by Cadillac, which announced on Tuesday that Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez would be their drivers for the 2026 Formula 1 season.

Cadillac have taken their time and considered plenty of options over the past few months before confirming Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez as their drivers for next year.

Four additional drivers were considered by Cadillac, and plenty more held informal conversations with team principal Graeme Lowdon.

In the end, it was experience that mattered, and while Bottas and Perez have reacted differently to losing their seats on the grid this season, they’ve both ended up alongside each other for 2026.

Bottas has already compared Cadillac to Mercedes, where he’s currently acting as reserve driver.

The American team’s expectations are going to be vastly different to the Silver Arrows next year, as team principal Toto Wolff will hope the Silver Arrows are in contention to win the constructors’ championship.

Cadillac will be doing well if Bottas and Perez aren’t qualifying 21st and 22nd at every race to begin with, and while they both have very favourable reputations in the paddock, Ralf Schumacher has one question mark over the Finnish driver that needs resolving when he makes his comeback.

READ MORE: Cadillac driver Valtteri Bottas’ life outside F1 from girlfriend to wine and gin

Ralf Schumacher has ‘question’ over Valtteri Bottas’s race pace ahead of Cadillac F1 comeback

Schumacher was speaking on the Backstage Boxengasse Podcast after the announcement, and he said: “They have two drivers who are well known, who don’t break anything, who are careful, and that’s important in the first year: to have a certain consistency.

“And drivers – I mean, 35 is not old in Formula 1 – but they have good experience and will probably develop in the same direction.

“At the moment, there’s no need to stress. Of course, as a team that’s still developing, you need to have drivers where you know: OK, I don’t have to worry about them, I don’t have to explain anything to them, I don’t have to show them anything, they know how it works. And that was probably the main reason.

“And Bottas, um… yes, there’s really the question: how fast is he still? However, I believe that a year on the reserve bench does something to a driver.

“And that he simply says: ‘OK, I’ve recognised that, I need to work on myself now,’ and I think it will actually benefit the team that he now has new motivation.

“Yes, and of course, I’m especially happy for Papa Perez, because he’s actually the biggest Formula 1 fanatic.”

READ MORE: Ralf Schumacher says one F1 rookie has shown he’s far from ‘the next Max Verstappen’

The Valtteri Bottas statistic that proves his F1 race pace has always been underrated

One of Bottas’ best attributes has always been his ability in qualifying.

When he was teammates with Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes, much was made of the fact that he outqualified the seven-time world champion 31 times, and went on a record-breaking run of never missing out on Q3 while racing for the Silver Arrows.

However, while Schumacher is worried about his race pace, it should be noted that Bottas’ average starting position (8.12) is actually worse than his average finishing position (7.86).

It means, on average, he was more likely to make up places on the grid than lose them, even if he secured 20 pole positions and only won 10 Grand Prix.

Perez is looking forward to working with Bottas, and they’ll likely be getting very used to racing each other next season unless they can find a way to catch another backmarker on the grid.

But Bottas knows he has a point to prove after his last campaign in Formula 1 ended with scoring.