After starting the European F1 season with two DNF’s, Cadillac driver Valtteri Bottas is hopeful that the team’s upgrade will provide some much needed performance and reliability at the 2026 Austrian GP. The American newcomers have brought a few improvements to Spielberg, and they hope to address the lack of performance.
“In theory, it’s a good step forward,” Bottas explained on the floor upgrade in a print media session. “I think we’re talking [in the] region of 10 points of downforce, which is a decent step, and that combined with the reliability updates for the cooling, then hopefully we can be a bit closer again.”
Improving the cooling would also be very welcome for the ten-time Grand Prix winner, as overheating was the main cause of his retirements in Barcelona and Monaco.
“Barcelona was more related to brakes and cooling,” he explained, instead of the power unit as a whole. “That was the issue, similar to Monaco.”
Talking in actual performance gains rather than abstract downforce points, Bottas thinks even on the short Red Bull Ring, the improvement could be significant.
“A few tenths, I think, in theory. Again, we’re going to see. We’re going to do some aero runs in the beginning of FP1, just to see what is the actual effect compared to the past, and then we’ll see. But hopefully it works as it should.”
Barcelona Friday showed promise for Bottas
Looking back at the last race in Barcelona, Bottas admitted he felt very good in the car on Friday, only to see it come undone in FP3 with the brake dramas.
“Well, it just felt like the car actually worked as it should, error-wise and mechanically,” Bottas looked back.“We got the set-up right and everything, so that’s when I probably had the best confidence I had with the car so far.
“And yeah, it kind of went downhill from there after we had to change the floor after the issue I had in FP3.”
Bottas is obviously happy upgrades are coming for the Austrian GP of this weekend.
“And we knew that floor was underperforming, which we had to revert. So here, it’s an upgrade anyway. Both cars have different diffusers to Barcelona, so yeah, more confident coming here that we should be more aligned.
“I think our quality is getting better.”
With the track in Spielberg being fairly short, the question is how much the upgrades will bring. Bottas remains hopeful, despite the track being not as smooth as Barcelona.
“It’s a different track,” Bottas said. “Barcelona was actually quite smooth.
“We’ve been struggling on some tracks like Monaco and Montreal with the ride quite a lot, and I think that’s going to be more present here. So I think we have to compromise the set-up a bit here for the ride.
“But yeah, I think we had a good test in Barcelona with Zhou after the race. Get some preparation even for this race, trying different set-ups.
“So again, I think we should be better prepared.”
