Cadillac shows growth after near disaster on first lap in Shanghai
The Chinese Grand Prix began with bated breath for the Cadillac team. Just a few laps in, the white-and-black cars of Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas came dangerously close to contact, risking to compromise the Sunday for the fledgling American squad. At a stage in the project where accumulating mileage is just as vital as results, the two experienced drivers nearly completed a “sporting suicide” at Turn 3.
Fighting for 14th place, Perez attempted an inside move through the left-hand bend. With Fernando Alonso‘s Aston Martin looming on the outside, the Mexican hit the curb, sending his front-right wheel into Bottas’s side. The impact spun Perez around, leaving him facing the wrong way, while the Finnish driver’s car sustained significant floor damage. Fortunately, both cars were able to continue, finishing the race with Cadillac’s best result in the team’s young history.
Perez takes responsibility: “It was all my fault”
Unlike many driver pairings who might have unleashed frustration over team radio, the Cadillac duo handled the situation with remarkable maturity. After the race, Perez made no excuses and took full responsibility for the incident: “It was all my fault,” the Mexican admitted. “I saw the gap and went for it. But obviously, looking back, Valtteri had nowhere to go. Unfortunately, it cost me the race because I spun and lost a lot of time. Luckily, I managed to get back into the pack.”
The contact was only the beginning of a challenging afternoon for Perez: “In the second stint, I was about to overtake Valtteri with the overtake mode activated, and I lost the engine. I lost the battery, so I lost like five seconds. After that, I lost another 15 or 20 seconds. So overall, I think the positive is that we finished with both cars. The negative is that we have a lot of clean-up work to do in many areas to make sure we don’t lose positions on track and arrive at races much better prepared.”
Regarding how easy it was to clarify the incident with a teammate like Bottas, Perez added: “Well, I think that’s how it should be, when there are no bad intentions between teammates and when you look at the incident. I think it’s important to apologize immediately and realize you’ve made a mistake. That’s it, you know, sometimes mistakes happen; unfortunately, it happened with Valtteri, but I’m glad he finished the race.”
Bottas: “We are moving in the right direction”
For Valtteri Bottas, the contact turned the Grand Prix into a survival mission. Despite the damage to the floor, the Finn managed to cross the line in 13th, giving Cadillac its best-ever F1 finish and demonstrating a level of reliability that even top teams like McLaren lacked this weekend.
“I was missing a big piece of the floor on the left side, so that didn’t help,” Bottas revealed. “I just felt the contact; I didn’t really know he was there. But in the end, everything went well, and yes, I’m very, very happy to be 13th in our second Grand Prix, already close to the points. Obviously, there were many retirements, but it’s a good result for us.”
Bringing both cars to the finish (P13 and P15) represents an important morale boost for the American brand: “It’s a good starting point. We’ve clearly made progress in all necessary areas from the first to the second race. I’m really proud of this team because we are moving in the right direction, but we know there is still work to do. We are definitely lacking pace; at the moment, it seems we can only fight with Aston Martin, but if we want to beat other teams, we need more performance.”
Lowdon: “Clear improvement in pace and performance”
The final assessment of Cadillac’s first two F1 race weekends comes from team principal Graeme Lowdon: “We can be very satisfied with this result. We saw that the complexity of the new cars created quite a few problems even for experienced teams, so bringing two cars to the checkered flag in our second race weekend is a major achievement for the entire team.”
Despite the contact and the issues Perez reported, the pace of both Cadillacs in the race was around three-tenths faster than the Aston Martin, while the gap to Williams remained roughly a second: “We have shown a clear improvement in terms of pace and overall performance throughout the weekend, managing to compete with other teams,” Graeme Lowdon emphasized. “We can conclude this first double-header with our heads held high, confident that we have a solid foundation to build on for the future.”
Cadillac’s survival in Shanghai proves that even in the high-stakes world of the 2026 regulations, veteran experience can save a team from a technical and PR disaster. By prioritizing accountability and mileage over internal conflict, the team is establishing a professional foundation that could prove vital as the development war intensifies. Based on the content of the race data, the next objective will be translating this reliability into the raw speed needed to break into the points-paying positions.
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