Cadillac has reached the midpoint of its inaugural Formula 1 season as the only team on the grid without a single point, according to the official half-term assessment published by Formula 1. The American outfit, anchored by veteran drivers Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas, has endured repeated brake fires, suspension failures, and overheating issues across the first 11 rounds of the 2026 campaign.
The team’s best Grand Prix finish belongs to Bottas, who climbed from 20th on the grid to 13th at the Chinese Grand Prix after capitalizing on a chaotic race that saw four drivers fail to start and another three retire. Bottas made contact with Perez on the opening lap but avoided significant damage and drove through to a result he has not matched since, with 16th-place finishes in Canada and Great Britain his next-best outings.
Perez came agonizingly close to delivering Cadillac’s first F1 point at the Monaco Grand Prix, crossing the line in 10th place after climbing from 18th on the grid. The Mexican recovered from a drive-through penalty for a starting infringement and thrived amid a late Safety Car period, but a post-race 10-second time penalty for positioning his front-right wheel outside his grid box at a red-flag restart dropped him to 15th.
In the internal qualifying battle, Perez holds a narrow 6-5 advantage over Bottas. Neither driver has advanced beyond Q1 at any circuit, with both sharing a joint-best qualifying result of 18th — Perez at Monaco and Bottas at Silverstone. The race head-to-head tilts more decisively in Perez’s favor at 6-3, with no mark awarded for the Austrian and Hungarian Grands Prix where both drivers retired.
Reliability has been a persistent headache for the team. Perez has recorded four retirements while Bottas has suffered five, including two suspension failures for Perez in Canada and Belgium. Both drivers were forced out of the Austrian and Hungarian Grands Prix due to overheating issues, compounding what Team Principal Graeme Lowdon had hoped would be a breakthrough weekend in Austria after the team introduced an ambitious upgrade package featuring updated sidepods and a new floor.
Lowdon had expressed confidence that the Austrian upgrades would “continue our trajectory of steadily catching up to the midfield,” but reliability problems hampered Friday running before both cars retired from the race — Bottas completing just two laps and Perez lasting only slightly longer.
Looking ahead to the second half of the season, Cadillac faces mounting pressure as nearest rivals Aston Martin introduced a B-spec car in Hungary just before the summer break. A Q2 appearance or a top-10 finish would represent a tangible milestone for the fledgling operation. The team’s foundation includes two proven race winners in Perez and Bottas, experienced leadership under Lowdon, and a Ferrari-supplied gearbox and engine — a package that rival teams have already demonstrated can deliver results further up the grid.