Racing
© Jonathan Borba
Cadillac left the Belgian Grand Prix still without a point in its debut Formula 1 season after Sergio Perez retired with a rear suspension failure and Valtteri Bottas finished only 18th, leaving the team as the only constructor yet to score heading to the Hungaroring.
Spa was another weekend that exposed the same problems that have defined Cadillac’s year. Perez’s race ended on lap 13 of 44 with what he described as a rear inboard suspension failure, while Bottas could do little more than bring the MAC-26 home and add data for a team still searching for reliability and race pace.
Perez said the retirement was only part of the problem. Sergio Perez, Cadillac driver, said: "It was an unfortunate end to the race. I had a rear inboard suspension failure and we had to retire the car. We are still investigating the reasons why." He added that the team also lacked straight-line speed at Spa: "It was a tricky weekend as we struggled a lot with straightline speed - even in the race I was missing a couple of tenths and we couldn't fight for longer with the Haas of Esteban [Ocon], but hopefully we are able to sort it out for Hungary. I'm looking forward to it, coming back stronger there."
The broader picture remains bleak. Cadillac has yet to finish higher than 13th this season, and Bottas’s lone 13th-place result remains the team’s best so far. In Belgium, he slipped back to 18th, underlining how far the team still has to go before it can turn finishes into points.
Bottas said the finish at least gave Cadillac something to build from. Valtteri Bottas, Cadillac driver, said: "We still have work to do, particularly on reliability and tire degradation, but everyone in the team is giving everything to improve." He said the team must "keep pushing" and added that Hungary could offer a better opportunity if Cadillac can put a qualifying lap together.
Graeme Lowdon, Cadillac team principal, said the immediate task is to understand Perez’s failure and recover ground at a very different circuit. He said the team will examine the retirement "to get back to the reliability we saw earlier in the year" and pointed to Budapest as a more relevant test of whether Cadillac can finally end its scoreless run before the summer break.