Lowdon categorically denies Bottas axe rumours and rules out Herta promotion

Cadillac Team Principal shuts down driver change speculation

Cadillac Team Principal Graeme Lowdon has emphatically dismissed reports suggesting Valtteri Bottas is at risk of losing his seat just five races into the 2026 Formula 1 season, describing the rumours as entirely without foundation.

Bottas, who sat out the 2025 season on the sidelines at Mercedes, has been paired with former Red Bull driver Sergio Perez at Cadillac. Reports had begun to circulate suggesting Lowdon was looking to replace the Finn due to his performances allegedly failing to match Perez's. As reports emerged linking Colton Herta to a potential promotion, Lowdon moved swiftly to set the record straight.

Drivers doing "way more" than their peers, says Lowdon

The former Marussia boss was keen to highlight that outside observers have little insight into the scale of what is being demanded from both drivers as the team simultaneously races and builds itself from the ground up.

"If we look at the job that both drivers are doing, they're doing way more than drivers in some of the teams are having to do, because we're constructing the team while we're racing at the same time, and that's a very unusual task," he explained.

Lowdon also pointed to Cadillac's improving pace as evidence against the narrative of failure, noting that pre-season sceptics predicted the team would struggle to get within 107 per cent of qualifying pace — a threshold they have consistently met. "It was just a few fractions of a per cent in Montreal where we missed out on advancing in sprint race qualifying," he added. Those difficulties were further compounded by reliability concerns, with Bottas himself admitting the car was not "100 per cent" in Canada.

Herta promotion ruled out on regulatory grounds

Lowdon also addressed speculation linking reserve driver Colton Herta to an imminent F1 seat. The American is currently competing in his rookie Formula 2 season and does not yet hold the superlicense points required to race in Formula 1 — a fact Lowdon said rendered such rumours fundamentally flawed.

"Some of them suggest that we would put Colton in to replace Valtteri in the next few races, or whatever, and Colton doesn't have enough superlicense points, and to some extent, that probably says it all about the quality of some of the rumours," Lowdon said pointedly.

He was equally firm in quashing suggestions that Perez could be poached by another team: "It's very important to make it abundantly clear that there is absolutely not one shred of actual truth or evidence to any of the rumours suggesting that either Valtteri's seat is at risk, or indeed, that Checo might go to another team."

Cadillac currently share the bottom of the Constructors' Championship with Aston Martin — both teams yet to register a point this season.