Valtteri Bottas twists knife over Aston Martin problems with cheeky joke

Valtteri Bottas has poked fun at Aston Martin’s problematic start to the 2026 Formula 1 season.

The F1 veteran, returning to the world championship with the new Cadillac team having spent 2025 on the sidelines in a reserve driver role with Mercedes, made light of the troubles plaguing Aston Martin during the first FIA press conference of the 2026 season.

Bottas was asked to name his favourite for the championship based on pre-season testing, to which he delivered a tongue-in-cheek response

"It seems impossible to say, but if I have to guess something now, I'm gonna say Lance Stroll Fernando Alonso and George Russell,” Bottas quipped ahead of the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

"I think they [Mercedes] were sandbagging so they're gonna beat Aston at the very end in Abu Dhabi.”

Aston Martin endured a nightmare pre-season and conducted the fewest miles in Bahrain, with Honda’s reliability problems causing the AMR26, which was badly off the pace, to regularly break down.

Team principal Adrian Newey remarkably revealed in Melbourne that Aston Martin’s drivers are at risk of permanent nerve damage to their hands if they run for too many laps with the severe vibrations currently plaguing the AMR26.

Focusing on his own team and the huge challenge facing Cadillac as it prepares to make its F1 bow in 2026, Bottas thinks the American squad is already in a solid place.

“It’s quite unique to be in a situation that you’re starting with a new team in the sport. It doesn’t really happen every day, so yeah, very unique,” he said.

"It’s been hard work, lots of problem solving, but we’ve already made great progress and really hats off to the whole team being here ready for race one, which I think already is incredible.

“So, looking forward to this journey. It’s only the start of it now.

Asked what he is hoping to see in 2026 from Cadillac, Bottas replied: “Progress. That’s the number one thing. We need to get better from the start of the year to the end of the year, which I hope we will.

“Like I said, we’ve had hard work already, but the hard work continues going ahead. With the new power units, with the new cars, it’s the same kind of for everyone, but we have been building everything from scratch, so we need to keep going, keep getting better in all the areas.”