Windsor criticizes Cadillac's choice: ‘Bottas and Perez are not going to make that car faster’

On Tuesday, Cadillac announced its driver duo for next year: Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez will return to the Formula 1 grid. Peter Windsor shared his opinion on this line-up in an exclusive interview with GPblog.

''Really boring choice,'' Peter Windsor began his first answer in an interview with GPblog.

The former team manager doesn't understand what Cadillac based their choice on: ''Unbelievably boring and a bit disappointing really. What are they thinking? 'Oh, we've got to have two guys that have won Grands Prix in order to have our credibility.'''

Windsor doesn't understand the signing of both Bottas and Perez

''Are they thinking that or are they thinking this is the way to get the technology in a way that's going to be competitive because these two guys have so much experience with them? That's complete nonsense as we all know.''

Windsor supported his opinion with examples from previous years: ''How many times have we seen drivers who've won world championships go to teams because they've got the experience and they're going to… Alain Prost, so many people, when he did his own team.''

''And more recently Felipe Massa and Rubens Barrichello when they went to Williams from Ferrari taking all that experience and BAR (British American Racing, red.), and it didn't make any difference whatsoever because racing drivers are racing drivers.''

According to Windsor, Bottas and Perez won't really be able to make the car faster: ''They're not engineers and they're only as good as the car they drive. And if you look at in reality, they're signing two guys that at the back end of their career were struggling in a Red Bull and in a Mercedes.''

''So what they're hoping to achieve with that car, if that is a good car, they're not really going to know that. Because it's going to be limited to the sort of horizons of those two guys.''

Drivers look mainly at what they find comfortable in a car. Each driver has their own driving style. Furthermore, the Brit stated that Bottas and Perez are past their prime: ''They're going to want a car that's going to want to do what they want to do as drivers. That's distinct from what will make the car really quick. Because neither of them are at the sharp edge of their careers.''

''Valtteri is not going to want understeer, that is for sure. And nor is Perez for that matter. Sergio is definitely going to be looking for his traction and wanting his traction. And if it's not there, yes, he'll be pretty good there at getting him to focus on the back end.''

Valtteri Bottas, driver at Cadillac for 2026

''But at what cost to the front end of the car? Because he's not one of these guys that can say 'I can live with this if I compromise there.' And neither of them are at this stage, sadly. Valtteri was very quick at one point, but not the back end of his career.''

Windsor would have preferred to see a young driver at the Cadillac team next year: ''I think it's a great shame. I mean, there are plenty of good young Americans they could have put in one car and used this time to grow as a team organically and give them experience. Beyond that, plenty of good guys they could have had in the number one car.''

Who would Windsor sign at Cadillac if he had a say?

''I would probably give a drive to Frederik Vesti,'' the F1 analyst revealed. Vesti's experience, reserve driver at Mercedes, is similar to that of Bottas.

''I think if you want Formula One, modern Formula 1 current experience, at least at the level of Bottas in the sim and the technology of what Mercedes are doing, which is what he's been doing last year. Vesti's got all of that for sure, and more probably because he's been doing that job a bit longer. And I think he's very, very quick as a driver, and he's got an early turn in, he's got a lovely feel and touch. He's got no race experience at all, but that's part of the story.''

Windsor openly wondered what Cadillac's reason is for signing Bottas and Perez: ''You don't just give in to stakeholders and say 'we've got two experienced Grand Prix drivers, isn't this wonderful?'''

''You sell the story and say 'we've got this young guy, we don't know if he's only going to be good or not, we're going to have cameras following him everywhere, we're going to really, really focus on his career as much as that of Cadillac.'''

Sergio Perez returns to Formula 1 after his time at Red Bull Racing

In addition to Vesti, Windsor would introduce a young American driver. According to him, there are several options for this: ''I would do that and I would go for a young American. Somebody like Colton Herta, maybe not him, but somebody like that, somebody young and quick who's doing very well at the moment.''

''Kyle Kirkwood is doing pretty good, very good job. And so I think it's a shame. But if you're going to do an American team, have at least one American driver. It doesn't make any sense to me. Drivers are what it's all about. And having a young American with all of America following it on reality TV, how can that be a bad thing?''

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