Cadillac will face a big challenge ahead at the Belgian Grand Prix in Formula 1. Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas ended up in the last positions in the qualifying session at Spa-Francorchamps, but the team believes it can still take advantage of opportunities throughout the race.
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Perez finished the session in 20th position and revealed that he faced problems with the energy delivery system since FP1. According to the Mexican, the failure was not resolved in time for the qualifying session and had a direct impact on performance on the straights.
“I was satisfied with my lap, but unfortunately we had some energy usage problems since FP1, which we couldn’t solve before the qualifying session. That ended up being quite costly, because those tenths we lost on the straights could have put us a few positions further up the grid,” he concluded.
The experienced driver highlighted that finishing the race will be an important goal for Cadillac on Sunday: “Seeing the checkered flag tomorrow will be very important for us, and that is our focus now. We need to hope for a good start and stay in the fight. That will be our main objective,” he said.
On the other side of the garage, Bottas secured 19th position and evaluated the weekend positively so far. The Finn emphasized that completing all sessions without problems allowed a better understanding of the car and helped increase his confidence behind the wheel.
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“It was good to have a calm weekend, with all sessions completed, because every lap helps build confidence and improves our understanding of the car. I felt comfortable behind the wheel throughout the weekend and I think we got everything possible out of the package in the qualifying session,” he commented.
The Finn acknowledged that there are still points to be developed, but highlighted the team’s gradual progress: “We know there are still areas that need improvement, but we learn more every time we go on track, and that is giving us more consistency. Tomorrow will be a matter of taking advantage of every opportunity,” he added.
Graeme Lowdon, team principal, also adopted an optimistic tone despite the grid positions. According to him, Cadillac executed all activities as planned and came very close to advancing one position in the qualifying session.
“We worked well as a team this weekend and executed all sessions according to plan. The qualifying session was extremely close, and we were less than three hundredths away from gaining another position. Our goal for tomorrow will be to stay in the midfield fight and take advantage of any opportunity that arises,” Lowdon concluded.
Read more F1: Check out the full qualifying results of the 2026 Belgian GP
