Colton Herta made his Formula 1 Free Practice debut at the Spanish Grand Prix, driving the Cadillac MAC-26 during FP1 at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. The American completed 27 laps and finished 21st with a best time of 1:20.697 before handing the car back to Sergio “Checo” Pérez for the second session.
The Cadillac F1 Team confirmed the three-driver lineup of Herta, Pérez and Valtteri Bottas completed a combined 90 laps across the two practice sessions as the squad focused on setup evaluation and performance optimization at the seventh round of the 2026 season.
“A lot of firsts for me. Not a long time to get up to speed but it was very enjoyable,” Herta said, according to the team’s official report. “The car was very impressive to drive, and I felt confident after a few laps so overall, I think it was super positive. It’s my first time wearing the Cadillac overalls and being fully integrated with the team in a driver role.”
Herta praised the team’s trajectory since its entry into Formula 1. “Starting from the ground up, I think where the team is now compared to where they started is remarkable and it’s only going to get better,” he said. “A massive thank you to the team for giving me this opportunity.”
Bottas posted the team’s quickest time of the day, clocking a 1:18.225 in FP2 to finish 18th, but an ECU issue limited him to just six laps in the afternoon session after completing 23 laps in FP1. “It’s definitely the happiest I’ve felt with the car all season,” Bottas said. “The car feels more predictable and it seems like everything is much more together with the setup. We’re hitting targets, and I can see it in the lap time.”
Pérez, who took over from Herta for FP2, completed 34 laps but finished 20th with a best time of 1:19.261. He acknowledged discomfort with the car’s balance. “When I jumped in the car, I wasn’t too comfortable with the balance and on a track where it is a single lap time, it wasn’t ideal,” Pérez said. “We’re changing quite a bit on the car so hopefully we can transform it into a much more competitive window for tomorrow.”
Team Principal Graeme Lowdon expressed satisfaction with the day’s work despite the technical setback on Bottas’ car. “We’re only seven events into the season now, we’re getting more mature as a team, and we can cope with the changes to having a new driver in the car,” Lowdon said. “Colton did a very good job for us today, he got through his run plan helping the team gain valuable data, and he knows what to expect from future FP1s.”
Cadillac returns to the track for Free Practice 3 at 12:30 p.m. local time, followed by qualifying at 4 p.m.