Valtteri Bottas revealed the cause of the recurring brake fires on the Cadillac in the 2026 Formula 1 season, after the problem once again compromised the team during the Hungarian GP.
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Cadillac has been facing difficulties with the braking system since the start of the championship. Even after introducing new front air intakes at Hungaroring to improve component cooling, Bottas suffered another fire during the race and had to stop the car against the wall to safely bring it to a halt.
In Formula 1, brakes are cooled by air. The air intakes direct the flow to carbon discs drilled with more than a thousand holes, reducing the temperature of components that can exceed 1,200°C during a race.
According to Bottas, the update brought to Hungary aimed precisely to solve this problem, but the result showed it was still not enough. “The new front air intake was developed to solve this problem and prevent it from happening again, but clearly we still need more airflow to the brakes. That became evident today. We also faced quite extreme conditions and a very demanding circuit for this system,” he said.
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“The brakes simply get too hot and there comes a point where everything starts to catch fire from the inside. This destroys the whole system. On the way back to the pits, I completely lost the brakes because I believe the brake lines burned. That’s why I had to stop the car by leaning it against the wall,” he added.
With Formula 1 now entering the mandatory 14-day shutdown period before the Dutch GP, Bottas does not expect major news from Cadillac upon the category’s return. “I don’t believe we will have many updates for Zandvoort. I hope there will at least be some solution for the brakes, but nothing related to performance. At some point, we will start focusing 100% on next year’s car,” he concluded.
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