Cadillac completed its first Formula 1 qualifying session for the Australian GP, with Sergio Perez finishing 18th and Valtteri Bottas 19th, marking the team’s official start in the category.
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Perez highlighted the collective effort and the car’s preparation for the debut: “Today was a truly special day. It was a huge effort from the team to be here with both cars, doing the qualifying session at a high level and being able to maximize what we could. Although it was a challenging session, I was pleased with the car’s balance and my lap. All I can ask for tomorrow is to repeat the same. For now, I am ready to move forward and have a really strong race, the goal, obviously, is to finish,” said the Mexican driver.
Bottas also evaluated the performance as positive, considering the challenges of the first qualifying session: “It was great to be on track completing our first qualifying session as a team. It wasn’t a completely smooth Q1, with the red flag, but I’m happy that we’ve completed all the sessions so far this weekend. We are here and ready for tomorrow’s race, so that’s already an achievement. We are lacking performance, but it’s a work in progress that will evolve. We needed to start somewhere, and now the direction is clear on where to push and how to develop the car. Looking ahead to tomorrow, we will look to maximize our strategy, take any opportunity and cross the finish line with both cars,” he added.
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Team principal Graeme Lowdon highlighted the importance of the collective performance: “I am extremely pleased with the team’s performance. We said from the start that we would measure ourselves by how we execute and operate as a team, and we did that very well today. Our strategy was to have three attempt laps, but the red flag disrupted that. Valtteri’s car lost a lot of time on the final straight and we need to find out why we didn’t make the most of the package, but overall, it was a fantastic effort from the team for our first qualifying session. This gives us a solid foundation for tomorrow’s race,” he completed.
Despite the modest performance on the grid, Cadillac begins its journey in Formula 1 confident, focused on learning and evolution to achieve good results throughout the 2026 season.
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