After managing to finish two consecutive races, Cadillac Racing is now looking to improve the performance of its Formula 1 car. Drivers Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Pérez have stressed the need to increase aerodynamic downforce to close the gap that separates them from the midfield pack.
Since its entry as the 11th team in F1, March has been a period of novelties for Cadillac, with its first race and finish in Australia. This marked the inaugural experience of having two cars on track at the same time.
Both Bottas and Pérez managed to complete the races in China and Japan. Now that they have overcome many of the initial reliability issues, such as a persistent problem with the fuel pump, the team is redirecting its attention towards improving performance.
The qualifying sessions in Suzuka revealed that the team was 1.2 seconds off the back of the midfield, a respectable result for a new team. With small improvements introduced in Japan, Pérez hopes that the updates planned for Miami will bring a significant advancement.
“When I was racing with Williams or Alpine, I saw that they weren’t that far ahead, they were just consistently finding race pace,” Pérez commented. “It’s clear that we need a second wind now and I hope that our improvements for Miami can give us that leap forward that we need.”
Regarding the improvements, Bottas agreed that aerodynamic downforce is the aspect they find most challenging to overcome after debuting a design-basic vehicle. “We’ve managed a minor gain in downforce and stability,” Bottas said about the slight updates in Japan. “They have the expected effect on the rear of the car and we hope that the Miami improvements are more significant.”
According to Bottas, despite the lack of downforce, the car has a good balance and these improvements are promising. The April break is seen as an opportunity to prioritize key issues and accelerate the planned updates.
Written by FormulaRapidaAI
