Sergio Perez gave a positive assessment of Cadillac’s Friday free practice sessions, despite acknowledging that there is still work to be done for the Formula 1 Italian GP on Sunday. The Mexican finished TL2 in 20th and sees an opportunity to compete for positions with Aston Martin.
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Perez highlighted that he managed to have a good adaptation from the start of the second session, but believes that race pace performance still needs to improve: “It was a strong start right away, which was positive. We still have some ground to recover, particularly for the race, but I think we have a good chance to fight with the Astons,” he said.
Valtteri Bottas finished TL1 in 19th and TL2 in 21st, but pointed out a smaller difference between the cars compared to Zandvoort. The Finn also identified an advantage for Cadillac on the straights and believes that proper use of the slipstream can yield time in the qualifying session.
“The differences are smaller here compared to the last round in Zandvoort, so we should have a better chance to fight with Aston Martin. I think we still have an advantage on the straights,” Bottas explained. According to him, it was not possible to take advantage of a proper slipstream this Friday, leaving room to find more performance in the qualifying session.
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Colton Herta had a limited participation in TL1 and finished the session in 22nd. The driver reported that he completed only one fast lap before a problem, which the team believes was hydraulic, interrupted his activity, but he highlighted that he continues learning with every opportunity in the car.
Marc Hynes, Cadillac’s competition director, described Friday as mixed. Besides the problem with Herta’s car, the team had to change Perez’s power unit after TL1 and reported that it will conduct an investigation with Ferrari (engine supplier for the team). Hynes stated that Perez and Bottas had a relatively clean second session, but there are still points to work on overnight before the qualifying session on Saturday.
Read more F1: Check out the images from the first practice sessions of the 2026 Italian GP
