Austrian GP disaster for Cadillac as Bottas and Perez suffer brake overheating. Cadillac reliability crisis deepens after double retirement in Austria.

Double Cadillac retirement in Austria: brakes on fire for Bottas and Perez after four laps

Two races ended by the same problem.

In a Formula 1 Grand Prix, it can certainly happen that a driver is forced to return to the pits and retire the car in the opening laps for various reasons. It is much rarer, however, for two drivers from the same team to raise the white flag in fewer than five laps because of a technical failure. It is even more unusual when both retirements, still within the first five laps, are caused by exactly the same issue.

Cadillac: brakes on fire, and not only that

That is exactly what happened to Cadillac in the Austrian Grand Prix, where both Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas saw their races end almost immediately because of brake overheating. It was a major embarrassment at the Red Bull Ring for the American team, which had arrived in Spielberg with an important upgrade package.

The first warning signs had already appeared earlier in the weekend, with Sergio Perez suffering two retirements in free practice due to a power unit issue. That was followed by Valtteri Bottas stopping in FP2, his car smoking after part of the floor detached.

Working to avoid a fourth straight retirement

Reliability was therefore already a serious concern, and the situation became even worse in the race. The former Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas returned to the pits just two laps after the start with his brakes on fire.

“We knew this is one of the toughest tracks for the brakes, especially with these high temperatures,” he said after his extremely short race. “We didn’t experience any issues during free practice, but suddenly, after two racing laps, the brakes overheated. It’s my third consecutive retirement, so this is the most important area we need to focus on as a team. We need to finish races to learn more, so that will be our main objective going forward.”

Two laps after Valtteri Bottas was forced out, Sergio Perez also retired with the same brake problem, expressing his frustration after another difficult weekend for Cadillac. For the only rookie team on the grid this season, it was yet another Grand Prix without a single point.

“Today was a really unlucky day. In traffic, the brakes overheated and we were forced to retire. We were really in the fight and had the pace to compete with Williams: I passed Albon on track, so it’s a real shame that we couldn’t make the most of the situation today. We need to analyse everything in detail and understand what we can do for Silverstone.”