Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas will start from the last positions in the Dutch Grand Prix of Formula 1, but Cadillac found some signs of competitiveness during Saturday in Zandvoort. Perez finished 22nd and Bottas 21st, while the team highlighted the learning obtained throughout the weekend schedule.
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Perez revealed that a hydraulic problem had affected his car in the morning, but the team managed to recover it in time for the Sprint race. The Mexican stated that the pace shown at that moment was promising, although the changes made later reduced some of the performance.
“It’s a bit unfortunate that we lost competitiveness compared to this morning because of the changes we made, when we managed to get a lot out of the car,” Perez said. Despite this, the Mexican driver highlighted that the pace shown earlier ‘gives some encouragement’ for the GP on Sunday.
Bottas, in turn, said that the expectation during the Sprint race was to be able to face Aston Martin, but the competing team showed a certain advantage. For the race on Sunday, the Finn hopes to better evaluate the car’s behavior over a longer distance and does not rule out a battle also with Williams, despite the starting positions.
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“It’s not pleasant to see us at the back, but the differences are not huge,” Bottas said. According to him, the team will continue working to improve the car and seek a reaction during the race.
Marc Hynes, Cadillac’s race chief, highlighted that the team used different approaches on the two cars to gather useful information for development. He also stated that previous problems were solved and drew attention to the variable weather conditions in Zandvoort, which may open opportunities during the race.
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