The first Cadillac F1 car completed its first laps at a private shakedown at Silverstone on 16 January with Mexican Perez behind the wheel.
On the other side of the garage, Finland’s Bottas – who kept his finger on the F1 pulse as a reserve driver for Mercedes in 2025 – is also counting down to the next chapter of his career.
“For me, it’s like a comeback,” Bottas said in an exclusive interview for the F1: Back at Base podcast.
“I want to make it the best season I’ve had personally, when I look at my personal results. I really want to minimise things that I can feel that I could have done better.
“I want to give it all to myself, but first of all, to the team. If I can finish with a feeling that there was nothing I could have tried harder or could have done better, that’s a good goal.”
The arcs of Perez and Bottas’ F1 careers have followed a similar trajectory. Perez made his debut for Sauber in 2011, two years before Bottas made his bow with Williams. Both went on to play a big part in winning constructors’ world championships, Bottas contributing to five during his five seasons at Mercedes and Perez two during his four-year stint with Red Bull, which came to an end in 2024.
Cadillac’s new pairing will utilise all that experience as they take on a bigger role to help accelerate the new team’s growth.
“We’ve been basically through the whole paddock, we’ve done it all, we’ve seen it all in the sport,” said Perez. “So I think we have a great combination of drivers.
“Starting with a new team, it’s a different sort of challenge. Being able to be part of building a new team really excited me about this project.”