Cadillac Formula 1 Team closed out the Singapore Grand Prix with Checo Pérez finishing 17th and Valtteri Bottas 19th at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, as the American outfit acknowledged a significant pace deficit to the midfield pack.
Pérez started and finished P17, gaining one position in the closing stages after Alex Albon retired on the final lap. The Mexican driver ran a two-stop strategy, cycling through Soft, Medium, and back to Soft tires, and posted a fastest lap of 1:38.574. Bottas, who started from P18, crossed the line in P19 with a fastest lap of 1:40.171 after starting on the Medium compound — a choice that proved suboptimal for the conditions.
“I think we are in a strong position with the foundations we have today. We are solid operationally, and the team has done a really good job,” Pérez said. “We are still lacking around one to one-and-a-half seconds to be able to compete with the cars ahead, and I think what we really need now is a stronger car underneath us.”
Pérez also highlighted the significance of the upcoming North American swing, noting that the Mexican Grand Prix will mark his 300th Formula 1 start. “Mexico will be particularly special for me, racing in front of my home crowd and reaching 300 Grands Prix. It’s going to be a very special weekend.”
Bottas was candid about the team’s limitations, pointing to a lack of recent upgrades as the root cause of their race-pace struggles. “We are lacking pace generally, especially in the race — that’s the weakness we have and we are investigating what’s behind that. We know we haven’t brought any big upgrades so there’s no magic solution. We just need to keep focusing on the future, especially for next year’s car.”
Team Principal Marcin Budkowski acknowledged the difficulty of the weekend, which concluded a demanding triple header. “We had a few incidents and crashes during the weekend. Both cars finished the race — we were hoping for a bit more attrition and incidents to keep our hopes alive for some points, but it didn’t quite go this way,” he said. “Checo had a very strong first stint on the Soft tire. We were fighting with other cars and playing with the strategy to try to gain some positions, but it wasn’t sufficient to compensate for our pace deficit.”
Cadillac now turns its attention to the United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas, the team’s second home race of the season and the opening round of another triple header.