Former Haas Formula 1 team principal Guenther Steiner has questioned Valtteri Bottas’s motivation and future at Cadillac, suggesting the Finnish driver has “given up a little bit” amid a challenging 2026 campaign for the American outfit.
Speaking on The Red Flags Podcast during the summer break, Steiner graded the 2026 grid and offered a blunt assessment of Cadillac’s current driver pairing.
Cadillac joined the F1 grid in 2026 with the experienced driver line-up of former Mercedes driver Bottas and former Red Bull driver Sergio Perez.
The pair find themselves at the bottom of the drivers’ standings, with neither having scored a single championship point in the opening 11 races of the season.
But despite their equal points tally, Perez has outperformed his team-mate over a single lap. The Mexican driver currently boasts a 9-6 overall qualifying advantage over Bottas, including grand prix and sprint qualifying.
Steiner awarded Perez a C grade for his 2026 performance so far, praising his relentless effort in uncompetitive and often unreliable machinery. “He’s doing better than his team-mate,” Steiner said.
“It’s a C, and he’s putting an effort in, but if the car doesn’t break, it is slow. What can he do about it? You judge them on the effort they put in because it is so easy to get frustrated that you’re not doing anything anymore.”
Valtteri Bottas, Cadillac Racing
Photo by: Andy Hone/ LAT Images via Getty Images
He added: “Fair play to Checo, and Valtteri a little bit, they keep on pushing with whatever they have got, and that’s not easy to do.”
In contrast, Steiner relegated Bottas to a D grade, arguing that the 10-time grand prix winner lacked motivation.
“I think we have to put him in a D. Perez is just better than him at the moment,” Steiner noted. “What Perez tries to do, I think Valtteri has given up a little bit, it looks like.”
When questioned whether Cadillac should look to replace Bottas, Steiner stated that the team’s primary focus must be on developing the car. But he admitted that if management decided a driver change was necessary, the 36-year-old would be the obvious one to replace.
“If they need to change one driver, obviously I think they’re going to change Valtteri,” Steiner concluded.
“His results are not as good. I think Valtteri expected something different, but not this. Now it’s like, ‘Hell yeah, I’m driving a Formula 1 car, but I had a good job at Mercedes being the reserve driver. I was last as the reserve driver because I didn’t participate, and now I need to make all this effort to be last’.”
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