Cadillac needs to sort out reliability at expense of aerodynamic loss after double DNF in three laps in F1 Austrian GP of Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Pérez.
It has been a tough run of last few races for Cadillac with raining retirements due to various problems, more on the side of hot brakes. Bottas has retired from the last three races, while Pérez has suffered in two of the last four rounds of 2026 F1 season.
Frustrating for both Bottas and Pérez in F1 Austrian GP
It is certainly frustrating to see the car not finish, especially in 2026 F1 Austrian GP, where it suffered double retirement in a space of one lap. They couldn’t even finish even 1% of the race distance. The hot temperatures coupled with race start traffic created a massive affect on the brakes.
“Yeah, no warning,” said Bottas in the print media pen early in the race. “Everything was under control in practice. We did more than 10 laps in a row. That’s normally more than enough to get the peak temperature at the beginning of the race.
“But I think with the slight increase in temperature and then with the traffic effect, things just caught on fire, clearly, and already have to. So it’s a big issue. Obviously, we’ve got to find a fix for it. It was really sudden. I only got the smoke before Turn 4.
“And then out of Turn 4, I saw the fire. So it was like smoke before the fire and really rapid. And then even I didn’t use the brakes in Turn 6, 7, 8. It didn’t calm down. So it was clear that it was just a problem,” summed up Bottas, as teammate Pérez suffered the same, one lap later than the Finn.
Traffic only exaggerated the retirement
“Yeah, it’s a bit unfortunate what happened,” said Pérez. “I think we underestimated the effect of traffic and we’ve been having issues all weekend. I think it’s been the worst weekend. It feels like we took four or five steps backwards.
“So there needs to be a massive process, thinking on how we’re doing things, especially when it comes to upgrades, because today what happened was totally unacceptable and very unfortunate as well for the team. So I’m sure that we will be able to sort it out for the coming races.
“No, not really [the brakes hasn’t been on the edge all weekend]. I think it was just the traffic that over-exaggerated things,” summed up Pérez. The Mexican is left frustrated by not seeing the progress he hoped to see Cadillac make, even though it is their first outing in F1 2026.
Pérez rues lack of progress on reliability
He is happy to see the updates, but he feels reliability is also key in making progress. “Yeah, obviously it’s frustrating because we wanted to see how was the performance in the race, what we were able to do, how were things, but unfortunately we didn’t get the chance,” continued Pérez.
“Of course it is frustrating, but the most frustrating thing is not to see progress. We always expected these things to occur to a new team, obviously, but I think the frustration comes from the lack of progress. So I’m sure that this upgrade will help us to understand a lot of those efficiencies and I do expect a massive step forward in reliability going to Silverstone,” summed up Pérez.
Bottas feels Cadillac has to finish races to learn
There is equal frustration for Bottas, who concurs with the Mexican on reliability front. With the updated car in F1 Austrian GP, the Finn hoped that Cadillac would collect data but the new bits on cooling didn’t work either, which means the team will have to rethink on some things.
“Yeah, very difficult weekend, this one,” said Bottas. “We had new parts. We found that we got some more pace. But if we don’t finish the race, then that’s what it is. But yeah, I think for us, it was most disappointing race of the season, both cars out in only three laps.
“Yeah, the only thing we can do is work hard as a team and that’s going to be the only solution and way to move forward. It’s now third DNF for me in a row. So if we don’t finish the races, then we can’t really learn much out of the car and the package either.
“So the priority is now pretty clear in Silverstone. We have to finish the race. That’s when we can learn. So yeah, we had new bits in terms of brake cooling for this weekend. But clearly not enough. So just got to keep working,” summed up Bottas.
Bottas ready to sacrifice aero for reliability
The Finn feels Cadillac should even sacrifice a bit of aerodynamics to get its reliability sorted. For him, the primary goal is to finish races than readily fight for points. He is ready to take that penalty to finish races. The updates in Austria were good, but are of no use if they cannot finish races.
“You’re barely touching the brakes in Silverstone,” smiled Bottas. “So yeah, I’m more confident over there. But going ahead, with Budapest and places like this, it’s clear we’ve got to redesign some bits. Otherwise, we’re not going to finish.
“Probably [it will be aerodynamic loss], but I’ll take that penalty to finish the race. So now, like I said, we’ve got to start finishing the race. That’s when we learn. Yeah, it seems like we’ve made a bit of a step here [with the updates]. And hopefully more steps to come.”
