Valtteri Bottas says he had a Williams deal in his hands for 2025 — right up until Carlos Sainz walked through the door.
The Finn, left without a race seat for this season, revealed over the United States GP weekend that talks with Williams were so advanced he “had the contract.” Then the dominoes that started with Lewis Hamilton’s shock move to Ferrari did what dominoes do. Sainz, displaced at Maranello, became the most coveted free agent on the board and ultimately signed for Grove.
“I like working with [James Vowles] and I was actually, yeah, pretty close to signing with them for this year,” Bottas told Motorsport Week. “Yeah, last year we had the contract already, so it was pretty close.” Why didn’t it happen? Bottas didn’t dress it up: “Carlos Sainz happened. So, yeah, that’s F1.”
It’s hard to argue with Williams’ logic. Sainz arrived on the back of a strong run of form and immediately slotted into a team that, by Bottas’ own admission, has been trending the right way. Williams sits a clear fifth in the constructors’ standings this season and looks a far more robust operation than the one Bottas left behind a decade ago.
“They’re definitely getting on the right track,” Bottas said. “Still a bit variable weekend to weekend, but if you look at where they were a few years ago, they’ve done a great job. I think backing now, they are behind a good investment group, and also James has brought so much knowledge from Mercedes.”
That last bit is telling. Bottas knows exactly what “Mercedes knowledge” looks like. With no race seat for 2025, he’s back in Brackley as reserve — the same outfit where he banked 10 grand prix wins and helped deliver multiple constructors’ titles. It keeps him sharp, keeps him in the room, and, crucially, keeps him positioned for what comes next.
What comes next is Cadillac. Bottas has already signed on for 2026 with the incoming American entry, a bold play that doubles as a career reset at the dawn of new regulations. Those cars will be lighter and smaller, with revised aero and a power unit split far more evenly between combustion and electrification. First laps will be messy, development curves steep, and experience invaluable. Bottas brings more than a decade of it.
There’s a parallel here: Williams gets a proven race winner in Sainz to accelerate its rebuilding; Cadillac gets a proven team-builder in Bottas to steer its first steps. Different needs, different timelines, both moves make sense.
For Bottas, missing out on the Williams reunion clearly stung — “had the contract” doesn’t leave much room for interpretation — but in a paddock that moves this fast, the next door opened quickly enough. If Sainz was the last big piece of the 2025 puzzle, Bottas might end up being the first important piece of 2026.
And if you’re keeping score on the silly season’s ripple effects: Hamilton to Ferrari lit the fuse, Sainz to Williams quieted the noise, and Bottas to Cadillac could be the one we look back on in two years’ time and say, yes, that’s where the new era really began.
