Cadillac brings more upgrades to Spa as Sergio Perez says: “Your heart always beats a little faster here”
Following the British Grand Prix, Cadillac heads to another legendary Formula 1 venue as the team prepares for the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps. Widely regarded as one of the most iconic and technically demanding circuits on the calendar, the Ardennes track will provide another important benchmark for the American squad’s development programme.
After regaining reliability at Silverstone, Cadillac’s focus now shifts towards extracting more performance from the MAC-26. The team led by Graeme Lowdon is aiming to build on the encouraging pace shown earlier in the season, particularly before the Monaco Grand Prix, and will introduce additional upgrades this weekend to continue its steady development.
Among the new components scheduled to debut at Spa is a revised front wing, the latest step in Cadillac’s ongoing aerodynamic development programme for the 2026 Formula 1 season.
Sergio Perez: “Spa always gets your heart racing”
Sergio Perez believes the Belgian Grand Prix presents a completely different challenge compared to the other circuits on the Formula 1 calendar, with Spa’s combination of high-speed corners, dramatic elevation changes and demanding energy management creating a unique test for both drivers and engineers.
“After the good performance at Silverstone, we’re ready for Spa, which represents a very different challenge compared to every other circuit on the calendar. Not only is it much longer, but it’s also a place where your heart always beats a little faster,” Perez commented.
“It’s an incredibly high-speed circuit, and it’s unusual because you experience negative G-force when going through the compression at Eau Rouge. It will be an interesting weekend from the perspective of energy management, car behaviour and tyre management, so on Friday we’ll focus on all of those areas, while also evaluating the upgrades we’ll have on the car.”
Bottas sees encouraging progress
Valtteri Bottas also arrives at Spa encouraged by the team’s recent improvements and is eager to discover how the latest developments have advanced Cadillac’s performance over the past two weeks.
“At Silverstone, I felt we were making genuine progress in terms of both reliability and competitiveness,” Bottas explained. “Now I’m looking forward to seeing how things have evolved over the last two weeks.”
“We’ll need to work hard this weekend to maximize our potential. People often think of Spa as a circuit that’s all about straight-line speed, but in reality it’s a track where the driver needs complete confidence in the car to attack the high-speed corners and ride the kerbs at speed.”
“We’ve done a huge amount of work back at the factory to make sure we arrive this weekend with a strong baseline setup. That should allow us to make the most of the free practice sessions and continue improving from there.”
Another important test for Cadillac
The Belgian Grand Prix will provide another valuable opportunity for Cadillac to assess the effectiveness of its latest upgrades under some of the most demanding conditions of the season. With Spa-Francorchamps placing equal emphasis on aerodynamic efficiency, mechanical balance, energy deployment and tyre management, the team hopes the revised front wing will represent another step forward as it continues to close the gap to its rivals before the Formula 1 summer break.
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