P1 with Matt and Tommy - Our Reaction to Bottas AND Perez Joining Cadillac in 2026

Episode Date: August 26, 2025

We're fresh off the plane with another emergency pod, after Cadillac announced today that Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez will drive for the team in their debut F1 season. We share our opinions, wonder who has more to prove and predict how the team will fare in 2026!AUSTRALIAN LISTENERS, LISTEN UP! The P1 Live Show is coming to Australia in May 2026 with shows in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth. Tickets are now available at tix.to/p1live!Follow us on socials! You can find us on Twitter, Instagram, Twitch, YouTube and TikTok. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello everybody and welcome back to the P1 podcast with Matt and Tommy, emergency edition. Now, you may well have noticed we're in person and we did in fact board a flight the moment Cadillac pressed the green light, the red button to say, yes, we will announce both Bottas and Perez for 2026. So we're here finally that literally the second we could record we are. So here we are. What's your reaction, Tommy? My reaction was, I can't believe they waited literally for the second we got on the flight. I even checked Twitter thinking that this news might appear at some point this week. It was very heavily rumored. And it came up on my Twitter 58 seconds ago they posted it.

And we were literally ready to take off. And I was basically about to set my phone to airplane me. We were watching the video as well. And I just saw a mustache. And I said, oh, no. Oh, no. They're announcing. I thought it was maybe just Bottas.

No, both of them. Both drivers. So yes, Valtrey and Sergio back in Formula One, first thoughts. Experience? Very experienced. You can see what they're doing, kind of. Yeah, look, we talked about this, didn't we? And we said they could go down the route of one experienced, one young talent.

They could go for both experience, considering they are a new team on the grid, and they want to try and shape their team in a sort of good mould for something that makes sense. And I'm not particularly surprised by it, to be honest. This is a long-term project for Cadillac. Of course, in 2029, they're going to be doing their own engines, but for now, Ferrari. It's not the most exciting thing from a, you know, you don't have like a Drogovich or something that you go,

oh, I wonder how they're going to do. I am intrigued to see how they will be against each other. I've seen a lot of jokes about, you know, the battle of the number two driver and things like that. Well, because they were the team players for 2021 championship of Hamilton versus Vastappen, weren't they? And now we're going to see them together. Who knows, maybe even with Christian.

in Horner as team principal, Emily Rehmann. Can you imagine what alternative? I please know. Yeah. What alternate universe are we in? But you can understand what they're doing, can't you, in terms of it's all about experience. Botas and Perez are two of the most, you know, they're both race winners and they've also been in Formula One for ages. and you can't really argue that you could have got anyone any more experience than those two, really. No, no. It's a lot of, I mean, what were there but combined age? It'd be like over 70, I'd imagine.

Yeah, it was 70. There'd be the oldest team on the grid with the combined age as well. The newest team, but the oldest team. There you go. Let's get into the first question for people on Patreon member, Katie. Who do you think will get more points in 2026, Perez or Bottas? I'm locking in Bottas immediately, Valtry. And the reason that I'm doing that is because Valtrey is, he is a quali god.

And we are in a quali championship. What that will look like next year, who knows, right? But I'm not expecting a massive overhaul of Formula 1 where all of a sudden we can overtake again. So, look, if a lot of races are determined on a Saturday, or at least points opportunities are determined on a Saturday, then, you look, I think Bottas, I know he was in one of the best cars ever made, but he also has some of the best Q3 streak. of anyone in Formula One. So that's why I am going for Valtry Bottas, more points. I'm going for Peres. And I'm very confident it's going to be Peres, actually.

I completely disagree. Because a Bottas is Salveston. Is that what you're judging it on? Yeah, yeah. He was having fun then, Tommy. It was just chilling. Well, is he going to have fun now? No, he's locked in.

He's died in. I think that, you know, they've hired two drivers very similar in terms of experience. For me, I have my opinions on Bottas and his, racecraft or lack of. And look, he's very good at qualifying. I could see him being good at qualifying. But last year, we saw Bottas what he could do in arguably the worst car on the grid. He scored no points.

The race where the Sao was actually pretty decent, Jeu Guanyu got those points because it was all about maximizing that result when it was about making moves and overtaking. And I actually think that Sergio Perez was, he's got this bad reputation of what happened at that Red Bull, was when he was in a midfield car, he was the guy that got you. I don't think he's going to get podiums, don't get me wrong, but he was the one that spawned into amazing positions in those crazy races. And Cadillac might be in a position where the only times they're going to get good points finishes is maybe a

crazy race and I would back Perres all day long to be the driver that if you put them both on soft tyres at the end of a race who's going to be the one that's carving the way through the field, I would say Perres and Bottas stoke behind a DRS train or even going backwards. Tell me the Bottas hater coming out once again. I'm not even a Bottas hater. I just think he's incredibly... You tell that to your opinions. Yeah, I mean, look, I know we love to share this amazing stat that Bottas was in, like you

said, oh, well done. You got into Q3 a hundred times in the best car on the grid. with no, when there's no reliability. Anyone else managed to do that? I think half the grid would if they're in his position. Did Hamilton do that? Did Hamilton do that? No, because he had mechanical players. Oh, here we go.

Yeah, there we go. It's fine. Look, I'm team Bottas, Tommy's team, team Perez, and let's see, let me know, let us know in the comments which team you're on. I think both, right? I'm not saying Perry's going to have a stinker. That's not what I'm saying here,

but I think that, you know, Bottas could, we could see a rejuvenation. And that's why we love this agreement. Next question from DC-Ressel. Where do you think Cadillac will finish in their first season with such experienced drivers? Look, I know they're experienced drivers, but we've seen in the past that I think I'm throwing back all the way to 2010 where Lotus, they decided we're going to get two very experienced

drivers who were race winners as well, Covalin and Trulley and the car was an absolute nightmare, and they couldn't do anything. Now, I don't think that Cadillac are going to be that bad. going to have their work cut out for sure being a new team. But we've seen that that's probably not the norm anymore because I think they are doing the right thing with what we saw with Hasse. Because you look at Hasse, it was very controversial at the time that they were like, we're going to take parts from Ferrari. Now it's a bit more common and a lot of teams do it. If they'd gone in from building their own engines from the start, it's P-21 and 22 locked in. However, we saw what Hask could do with a Ferrari engine.

If that Ferrari engine is good in an engine formula, they've got a chance of being able to be there. I don't think they're going to be a million miles at the back personally with that approach. I think that approach is better because it may sound laughable to think that they're not going to be last. But look what Huss did. I think they were six in their very first race because they used, you know, the Ferrari power unit was very good. That was a engine formula then. And if that power unit is good from Ferrari, which we're expecting it to be, they could be...

Let's not keep saying that. Let's not start the delusion train already. I'm more leaning towards Cadillac not being great in this first season. I think that the driver line-up in my mind suggests that. That almost seems like... We're going to struggle. Let's get a couple of guys and who'll fix our team, fix our car, take us in the right direction from round one.

That's where I'm leaning towards. There's no disrespect to Cadillac, but I feel as though it's not like, yeah, we're going to get two rookie drivers in. We're feeling good. We're going to hit the sort of ground running. I just don't necessarily see that with the Bottas and Perez lineup, but that's not to say that they can't build on that.

And perhaps 2029 is where their goal is and all that sort of stuff. So I'm leaning more towards, again, as well also, who's to say that the Ferrari engine will be amazing. I know that we're saying that it might. There's no, 2026 is such a lottery that it's really difficult to answer this question, but I'm leaning more towards. Until we do watch championship predictions for 2026, pre-F1 testing and you're saying Charlerclair's going to win the championship.

Sorry, didn't need the spoilers, did you? Didn't need to, you know, you don't know what I'm going to say next year. Next question from P1 patron member, a good Karen. I can't be the only one disappointed that two new seats on the grid have gone to two older drivers who are close to retirement instead of giving more young drivers a chance. Can I? No, it's absolutely fair enough to feel this way, especially because, yeah, the queue to get into Formula One just constantly grows. I think the Drogovic, of course, was a driver that was sort of lightly rumoured to potentially get a shot.

Mick Schumacher as well, who, I don't know, I don't know if I would have been as excited as perhaps seeing a Drogovic go in, just purely because we have seen Mick on the grid. It's not an exciting lineup. up. It's not a, it's not what you want to see, I guess, in some ways if you're looking for, because that's the whole exciting thing about Formula One is you have new talent, how are they going to fare, then you have, you know, Bortoletto, for example, doing phenomenally well so far in his rookie season. So those kind of storylines we're not going to get. However, I think if we look at it, flip it to a positive side, it'll be quite nice to see a Perez sort of redemption arc after everything he went through,

which he couldn't handle that Red Bull. We also can see that no one can handle that Red Bull. And we've also sort of apologised for that and the fact that we were unfamiliar with the Red Bull second seat game as far as it's gone, where it's just nobody can handle that. So a Perez redemption arc would be quite lovely to see, a Bottas redemption arc as well,

because Tommy thinks he's in the mud finished and all he cares about is his mullet. So there are still things, I think, to keep an eye on, and it will be, I think, feel-good moments. If Perez in a crazy race does get a podium, that will be a cool thing to see. That would be insane, yeah. I think, yeah, it is disappointing. We've had this trend where for so long, older drivers were kind of hogging the seats, if you like.

And then as soon as we had that kind of one moment where, you know, rookies came in, look at last year. And all the rookies, sorry, the start of this year, all the rookies that came in, it kind of did feel like, Oscar Piastri and Liam Lawson, and it kind of opened the floodgates of, okay, let's put our faith in young talent. And I would have personally really liked to have seen a young driver. I'd have loved to have seen Ruggovich go in personally to see what he can do.

He's highly raised. He's got youth on his side more than the drivers there. I do understand why they do it. They've gone for this lineup, but it does feel like they've picked basically two very similar drivers with lots of experience who are, and this is why, you know, me and you have disagreed on who we think is going to do better because they're very, I think most people would kind of agree that they are similar drivers in performance.

Yeah, similar standard, yeah. Standard and have had quite similar careers in the fact that, you know, they've won a few races, they've been number two drivers to world champions, but they've also done a lot of races and had good results in midfield cars as well. So yeah, I would have liked to have seen a rookie presidency. So I do understand the frustration. Yeah, but I guess we also got used to the fact that, as you say, young talent was coming through the doors left, right and centre.

We're like, wow, this is the norm. And this is the norm. And Cadillac have their own aims and goals, clearly, with that team that suggests that they need to build something from the ground. And also, unfortunately, for that side of it, We had this conversation about Daniel Ricardo back in the day. Of course, I've seen loads of memes flying around about Daniel Ricardo and, oh, why did he get the seat? He didn't want it.

And he said very publicly, I didn't want, I don't want to return Formula One. I've had enough. And with these two drivers... He said it had enough, like fully. He said it's not going to happen at Cadillac and stuff. So it feels like that was never going to happen for Daniel Ricardo. but Perez and Bottas are also very well known. Sergio Perez, of course, brings a huge fan base.

So that's a great idea. He'll bring loads and loads of sponsors. And Bottas is also a well-known name himself and will make some great TikTok content. You are such a hater. It's crazy. Absolutely a hater. He's more than just a TikTok towing, all right?

Next question comes in for from Heggy Munia, with both drivers having a weak end to their previous F1 stint. Who has more to prove with Cadillac? Well, I guess Bottas people have forgotten his stint at Sal. Yeah, I haven't. I think people are obviously like, you know, happy to see him back. I don't think his reputation is as bad as Perez, and I think it's completely unfair, reputation now based on what we have seen. Liam Lawson and Yuki Sonoda have basically done the research

for us that Perez isn't going to be anywhere near as bad as that. He's not forgotten how to drive a Formula One car. And he's going to go, you know, this was a driver that did very good things in midfield cars, got podiums in Force Indias and things like that. So I want to race for racing point. but he is going to, yeah, I think Perez is going to be the one that if he delivers, and say we do have this miracle race where it's a crazy race and he bags like a P6 or P7, you know that all the social media and chats on every single video and podcasts will be, oh, Perez is actually good. Like we can forget about that Red Bullston.

And I feel like he can prove a lot of people wrong with that. Yeah, I do. I do love the, he won a race at the racing point where you also believe that racing was very good. It was very good. Yeah. No, not that. Not quite that much.

I think Perez for sure, just purely from a recency bias type situation. I don't think, you know, Botas has sort of had his Mercedes stint and then just, it's just dwindled, hasn't it? Just he went to Saubra and just had a great time. He just had some Sunday drives, just chilled. Yeah. So it was kind of just like a, oh, you know, you're having a Kimmy Rikin and into your career kind thing. That was what Bottas was sort of doing, whereas Perez, yeah, it was like a just absolutely

out of nowhere, drop of fall massively. Yeah, I think that it has to be him for sure, but there's no sort of denying that he can, he can do that. So we will see, can Cadillac give them a good car. P.1Bade, remember, Alonzo makes me feel funny. Wow, that is not my burner account. No. Why would Cadillac not try and get a driver from the USA? Do they have an experienced driver from the USA to pick from? No, that kind of goes back to the whole, you know, what sort of route do they want to go with their drivers, the experience we've spoken about. You've got some drivers in an indie car that they could have gone for and things like that. But realistically, that's clearly not what they want to go for. And they've got Bottas on a diving board holding an American flag.

So that's kind of... Is he going to ditch the Australian nationality? He's now, he's now, he's a third of all of them. It's as simple as they didn't have a driver that they felt comfortable enough probably to be able to build a team. No, and I think it's absolutely the right approach that they don't just rush someone through just because they're American. Look at Logan Sargent and how badly he performed. He was another one where all the conversation was, we need an American and F1, F1's booming. Williams really pushed for him to the point where it almost looked like he wasn't going to get enough super license points and they still got him in. Look how badly it went. So, and I think, you know, when an American maybe, you know, there's many in Formula 2 and Formula 3 that

might come through the ranks, as soon as someone is good enough and ready, I'm sure Cadillac will very much want to jump at that chance to get an American on board. But at the same time, I think people over-egged the fact that, and obviously not speaking for all American fans, But look at the reaction to when they did those driver intros and how much of a cheer or lack of the Logan Sergeant got. I think you'll get enough support, but people will always support like the top drivers, and they will always be more popular than just flat out here's someone from America. So I don't think they need to rush someone through for the sake of it. The hype of Colton Herter very much has died down a lot with how well,

other drivers now are doing in IndyCar and it feels like when Andretti, who of course, this is part of that bid, were really pushing for him at the start. That height has massively died down and yeah, they've gone for two experienced drivers that are going to basically see them into a new era and then of course, because naturally of their age, they're not going to be there for like five, six, seven years. Yeah, maybe. And Hamilton as well in his 40s. They do stay around for a while.

I think that as much as, you know, a lot of you listening and watching are probably not going to be too excited by this, you know, two X drivers coming back. But it does show that Cadillac is serious because Bottas and Perez would not be cheap. As much as they are number two drivers, oh, they're not that great. They would not be cheap. They are proven race winners. As we've said, they've got plenty of podiums between them.

They wouldn't have been cheap. So that Cadillac, this is a full-blown investment. Yeah, as much as I've joked about my opinion on Bottas and also people have their opinions on Peros and stuff, they have two race winners in a brand new team and big names that people know. So it is a strong lineup. And I think there's a reason that they've announced them together as well

of like, yeah, we're Cadillac, we're not messing around two. experienced drivers, two race winners. So yeah, can totally see why they've done it. And there we go. That is our reaction to Bottas and Paris coming back to Formula One in 26. Thanks for joining us here in Amsterdam. We've got our live shows on Wednesday and Thursday this week, which is very exciting. If you're coming along, we can't wait to see you in a few days. Australia as well. We've announced our talk there as well. So, you know, if you haven't seen that, go and check it out on Instagram. And that is it. Tommy, what are your final thoughts? Final thoughts? Love you, really, Valtteri.

No, you don't. I love, I love, I did enjoy it. I did enjoy the memes. I did enjoy the memes. I like that it was real. Don't worry about three. I'm here for you. I will support you.

Bye. Bye. Don't dare get P23 now. P1 is a Stack production and part of the A-cast's creator network.