Valtteri Bottas Set For Ferrari Drive Ahead Of F1 Season Opener

Valtteri Bottas will drive an iconic Ferrari Formula 1 car a week before his return to the grid with Cadillac.

The Finnish driver will drive the Ferrari 156/85 from the 1985 season, driven by Michele Alboreto and Stefan Johansson, at the Adelaide Motorsport Festival. The Australian city first hosted an F1 race in the same year.

Bottas, who is an ambassador of the festival, will join Johansson in demonstrating the machinery on Sunday, March 1, on what will be his first time driving a Ferrari.

Pre-season demonstration

The Italian marque is the engine provider for Cadillac's maiden season in F1 as the General Motors brand gets up to speed with the championship before looking to become an OEM in its own right, and Bottas' new teammate Sergio Perez has already taken to the track in a two-year-old blacked-out Ferrari as part of the team's preparations for the new term.

Bottas spent last season as Mercedes' third driver, having been axed by Sauber following a three-year stint at the end of 2024. He secured 10 victories with the Silver Arrows between 2017 and 2021, part of the Mercedes team that won consecutive constructors' championships in that period.

In addition to the Ferrari 156/85, Bottas will also perform a demonstration in a V8 big-block Holden HQ Monaro on the same day.

The F1 season-opener at Melbourne's Albert Park, which succeeded Adelaide's street circuit as the Australian Grand Prix's host venue, takes place a week later on March 8, kicking off a new technical era for the sport with new regulations ushered in.

Getting ready 🏋🏼‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/IeO9pNBKxS
— Valtteri Bottas (@ValtteriBottas) January 2, 2026

Bottas and Perez will get their first on-track taste of the new Cadillac challenger when all 11 teams arrive at Spain's Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya at the end of January for a behind-closed-doors test, with two further pre-season tests to follow before reaching Australia.

Cadillac will wait until February 8's NFL Super Bowl before unveiling its color scheme for its maiden F1 campaign, utilizing the lucrative commercial space during the event.

The American outfit recently announced Bottas' former Sauber teammate Zhou Guanyu as reserve driver for the new season, fulfilling a role the Chinese driver performed with Ferrari last year.

Zhou joins former IndyCar star Colton Herta in the supporting cast - the American taking on test and development duties alongside a campaign in the Formula 2 championship as he aims to secure an FIA super license.

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