Valtteri Bottas Blames Cadillac Car: ‘It’s Not Performing Fully’

Valtteri Bottas concedes Cadillac runs below peak through the Canadian Grand Prix weekend, undermining his pace and confidence at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve as setup inconsistency and power shortfalls converge.

He reports the MAC-26 behaving unpredictably across sessions, expanding a pre-existing deficit to teammate Sergio Perez and limiting meaningful setup learning between changing conditions.

In sprint qualifying and qualifying, Perez holds a clear edge. Bottas is eight-tenths slower in SQ, with a Fernando Alonso red flag denying a final attempt.

The race proves more punishing. Bottas finishes last, four laps down on winner Kimi Antonelli, citing unresolved instability and a power unit not delivering full potential.

He describes a narrow operating window that shifts between sessions, blunting trust on entry and traction phases and forcing conservative compromises on ride, aero balance, and braking stability.

With parc ferme constraints, Cadillac can only chase symptoms once qualifying begins, leaving deeper setup experiments and correlation work for Friday and post-event analysis.

The broader project remains at an early stage. The team prioritises mechanical and aerodynamic development, introducing updates at most rounds to stabilise the platform before adding pure performance.

That focus aligns with earlier scrutiny of the car’s shortcomings, as Bottas discussed during Cadillac’s recent struggles around chassis balance and drivability.

Cadillac’s learning curve also reflects its early Formula 1 entry, where processes, tooling, and correlation mature under race pressure.

As the intra-team benchmark, Sergio Perez offers a useful reference. He consistently leads Bottas across sprint and qualifying, and extends that advantage into race trim.

Bottas indicates the power unit’s shortfall further magnifies Montreal’s lap-time losses, given long straights and heavy braking zones that punish deployment and drag.

Short term, Cadillac targets reliability and predictability to restore driver confidence. Medium term, it seeks correlation gains and incremental upgrades that pull the MAC-26 toward the midfield.

Bottas remains optimistic that the steady upgrade cadence will narrow the deficit and create opportunities to race nearer the leading pack.

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Daniel Miller

Daniel Miller reports on Formula 1 Grand Prix weekends with race-day analysis, team-radio highlights, and point-standings updates. He explains power-unit upgrades, aerodynamic developments, and driver rivalries in straightforward, SEO-friendly language for a global F1 audience.