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Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas have plenty of mileage in Formula 1 and their newest drive with Cadillac will be a long journey. But they insist they both have plenty of fuel in the tank to make it to their final destination.

Multi-race-winning drivers Perez and Bottas, both 35, have signed with F1's 11th team joining the grid next year. Cadillac know that their maiden season will be tough and expect to be at the back of the pack. And their new drivers, announced on Tuesday, say they are under no illusions about the bumpy road ahead.

Bottas, a reserve at Mercedes this year after he was axed by Sauber, told select media including Mirror Sport : "Early on this year, it was clear for me that this is what I want. I want to be part of this great brand, this start-up Formula 1 team, but with a great structure and big goals.

"I'm here to give everything I have to the team. With Checo, we can definitely guide in the right direction. Of course, we're realistic. It's going to be a mountain of work to do and it's going to be probably a difficult start. But we're not there to stay at the back. We don't want to finish last.

"There's no reason why we shouldn't be able to get relatively quickly up to the pace and that way enjoy some success. We still have quite a few years left in the tank with Checo, I think. So, the goal is to enjoy the success together eventually when we get there."

Perez has spent this year out of the spotlight after he was dumped by Red Bull following a wretched final season as Max Verstappen's team-mate. But he insists he has unfinished business in F1 and wants to rediscover his joy for racing again with this new project.

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The Mexican said: "I had a very difficult year, especially my final year with Red Bull. This is a sport I love and I want to get back to enjoying it. This project brings that excitement back because I'm able to use all my years of experience, the different teams I work with, to try to help this team move forward.

"It was very important to have this time off, especially because it only became clear towards the end of the year that I was not going to continue with Red Bull. So instead of jumping into something just for staying on the grid, I needed that time back to disconnect myself from the sport a bit and to understand what I really want next in my career.

"It was very clear for me in the beginning, especially the first couple of months, what I wanted to do next. The more I was talking to the Cadillac team, the more it became apparent that this is what excites me to go back. It's a project itself. It's just not going back to the grid with a regular team to fight for podiums and races and points. This is a whole project."

Perez plans to shake off his race rust with a testing programme later this year, with Cadillac set to borrow machinery from elsewhere to give their new drivers some mileage before they race again next March.

Perez added: "I haven't driven anything for a while other than karting with my son. There are some plans with the team to test a Formula 1 car before the end of the year. Obviously, next year, with so much testing that we're going to have, it's going to make that dust go away extremely quickly. I know what Formula 1 is about and I will be ready to deliver from the first race onwards."