Cadillac experienced a Saturday (23) of ups and downs at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, the second day of action in the Canadian GP schedule. The team achieved its best on-track result so far in the Sprint race but faced difficulties in qualifying for the main race on Sunday.
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Sergio Pérez initially finished the Sprint in 11th place after a soft tire strategy, considered bold by the team. However, after the race, a penalty dropped the Mexican to 14th position. Valtteri Bottas, who started from the pit lane, completed the race in 17th.
In qualifying, Cadillac did not repeat the Sprint performance. Perez placed the MAC-26 20th on the grid, while Bottas was 22nd.
“The Sprint race this morning was incredible – it was a really high-level performance from the team. It was a great strategy to use the soft tires. We made a mistake in Miami, but today we showed we were on the right tire,” said Pérez. The driver also regretted the difficulties in qualifying. “We didn’t maximize the session and had a small problem with the car’s behavior after a setup change.”
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Bottas highlighted an error on the decisive fast lap. “I locked up at turn 1 – my mistake – and that ruined the lap. The cloud cover and drop in track temperature made it harder to get the tires into the right window,” he explained.
The team principal, Graeme Lowdon, valued the performance shown in the Sprint. “There are many positives to take from today. We had the confidence to make a bold strategic choice and Checo managed to race competitively,” he stated.
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