The 2026 F1 São Paulo GP was yet another weekend to forget for Cadillac. Sergio Pérez took the chequered flag in P18, two laps behind race winner Lando Norris, while his teammate Valtteri Bottas suffered his first DNS of the 2026 F1 season.
Following a challenging 2026 F1 São Paulo GP outing, Pérez and Bottas shared their reflections from the weekend, with the Mexican lamenting the missed opportunities and reflecting that “it was a very promising race”.
Pérez on Cadillac’s 2026 F1 São Paulo GP performance
Finding the positives from the difficult weekend, Pérez shared that he was satisfied with how his Cadillac was able to perform in both the wet and dry track conditions at the 2026 F1 São Paulo GP. He also recounted his impressive start, where he was able to overtake Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto on the opening lap.
Reflecting on his outing at the 2026 F1 São Paulo GP, Pérez lamented the slow stop he had on Lap 15 due to a wheel gun issue on his Cadillac’s front-left tyre. This resulted in the Mexican losing valuable time.
“I think it was a very difficult race, with mixed conditions between wet and dry. It was very close, so I think we managed to put together a good finish, fighting with the other cars. I made a good start. And managed to pass him [Bortoleto] straight away. I was then fighting with him and Carlos, but unfortunately, we had a very slow pit stop.”
Slow pit stop problems continue for Cadillac
Sergio Pérez added that the 2026 F1 São Paulo GP was not the first instance where Cadillac has struggled with pit stops. The Mexican had faced two separate pit-lane equipment failures a week prior at his home race in Mexico. The six-time race winner stressed that Cadillac has to work on the reliability of its equipment, especially with Bottas suffering from a similar issue at the 2026 F1 São Paulo GP.
“I think it’s the same issue we experienced in Mexico, so it’s definitely something we need to work on. We need to make sure we fix our tools.
“We need to sort out everything and hopefully we can have a much stronger close to the end of the season.“
Bottas discusses DNS at 2026 F1 São Paulo GP
Following his reconnaissance laps to the grid at the 2026 F1 São Paulo GP, Valtteri Bottas had brought his Cadillac to the pits to switch onto his race tyres. However, a cross-threaded right-rear wheel nut had rounded off on his Cadillac and the mechanics were unable to remove it. The car was, hence, wheeled off the grid and retired in the garage before the race even started. It was later reported that Cadillac took six hours to get the wheel off.
Reflecting on the incident, Bottas shared that it was a ” real shame” and similar to Pérez had stressed that it was an issue Cadillac had to address as soon as possible.
“It’s sad, it’s a real shame not to start the race. It’s an opportunity and we had an issue with the rear right wheel nut, we just couldn’t get it off. And in the end it tipped around, so another issue we need to find a fix for, for the future.“
On his future with Cadillac
While Bottas’ contract with Cadillac runs through the end of the 2027 F1 season, there has been speculation about the team’s reserve driver, Colton Herta, replacing the Finnish driver. The American driver has made a total of five FP1 appearances this season as part of Cadillac’s effort to help him gain enough Super Licence points.
When asked if he was concerned for his future in F1, the Finnish driver reflected that he believes “nothing should change for the future”.
“I mean, normally nothing should change for the future, but there’s always people there for him. Giving him [Colton Herta] the superlicense, I can understand. It’s not whatever for him to get the licence, but for the future, I don’t know.”
