Cadillac's new F1 pairing of Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez will be the third most experienced pairing on the 2026 grid.
It was officially confirmed on Tuesday that Mercedes reserve Bottas and Red Bull exile Perez would form Cadillac's driver line-up for General Motors' first attack on grand prix racing.
Between them, Bottas and Perez have started 527 grands prix, won 16 of them and taken 106 podium finishes, as well as winning seven constructors' titles between them at Mercedes and Red Bull, respectively.
With such a wealth of experience, RacingNews365 has taken a look at how each pair of team-mates would stack up prior to the 2026 season-opening Australian GP - Cadillac's debut.
To make the calculation, we simply added 20 grands prix to each pair of team-mates current number of race starts, assuming each driver will start the remaining 10 races of the 2025 season.
The actual numbers come lights out in Melbourne could be less if a driver misses a race in the remainder of this season due to suspension or injury, or if a driver change for next term is made.
Cadillac's figure could also be higher if Bottas steps in to replace either George Russell or Kimi Antonelli at Mercedes, where he is currently serving as third and reserve driver.
Check out the table below!
Number of grand prix starts for team-mates in 2026 F1 season
| Rank | Drivers | Team | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Fernando Alonso, Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 614 |
| 2. | Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 551 |
| 3. | Valtteri Bottas, Sergio Perez | Cadillac | 527 |
| 4. | Carlos Sainz, Alex Albon | Williams | 357 |
| 5. | Max Verstappen, Yuki Tsunoda | Red Bull | 344 |
| 6. | Nico Hulkenberg, Gabriel Bortoleto | Stake | 275 |
| 7. | Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 222 |
| 8. | Esteban Ocon, Oliver Bearman | Haas | 207 |
| 9. | Pierre Gasly, Franco Colapinto | Williams | 203 |
| 10. | George Russell, Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | 176 |
| 11. | Liam Lawson, Isack Hadjar | Racing Bulls | 58 |
Also interesting:
Join RacingNews365's Ian Parkes and Nick Golding, as they look ahead to F1's return from the summer break at the Dutch Grand Prix. The wet weather risk for both McLaren drivers at Zandvoort is discussed, as is how Lewis Hamilton will approach media day.
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