The Cadillac F1 team has made its first driver signing for its debut F1 season, RacingNews365 and Formula.hu understand.
Cadillac has reached a deal with F1 veteran Valtteri Bottas, who will make his return to the sport for the 2026 campaign.
The Finn will most likely be officially presented by Cadillac next week.
Bottas has been linked to the sport's newest F1 team for quite some time, and has openly spoken about a return to the grid being his priority.
Cadillac would like to conduct some TPC (testing of previous cars) outings, likely with an older Ferrari car, in the latter part of 2025 to prepare the team for its debut.
Therefore, it is logical that Bottas will make an early move to Cadillac in order to best prepare himself for the new adventure and gel with his new team.
Cadillac is currently being headed by team principal Graeme Lowdon, who is familiar with Bottas.
In recent years, Lowdon has worked as the manager of Zhou Guanyu, who spent three years racing alongside Bottas at Sauber before the duo departed the grid at the end of last year.
Bottas returned to Mercedes as a reserve driver this season and has taken part in test outings while assisting Kimi Antonelli through his rookie F1 season.
It remains unknown if Bottas will conclude his reserve role at Mercedes with immediate effect.
The 35-year-old raced for the Brackley-based squad from 2017 to 2021 and secured 10 grand prix wins, 20 pole positions and 58 podiums with the team.
His vast F1 experience should be a major benefit to Cadillac, which will expand the grid to 11 teams for the first time since 2016 next year.
At present, it is still unknown who the other driver for Cadillac will be.
Sergio Perez was in talks with the American outfit, but Alpine has also voiced interest in the six-time grand prix winner.
Other, mainly younger drivers, have also been linked to Cadillac - but it remains up in the air if the team see it as an option to field a driver with little F1 experience.
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