In a surprising day at Suzuka, Cadillac Racing has managed to surpass Aston Martin in the qualifying sessions of the Japanese Grand Prix of Formula 1, with Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Pérez occupying the last two positions on the grid.
Pérez set a time of 1m32.206s, placing him 0.440s ahead of Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin’s driver. Nonetheless, both Bottas and Pérez were far from the times needed to advance to Q2, with a difference of 1.1s and 1.3s, respectively, from the time required to move forward.
The Cadillac drivers faced a complicated weekend, as Pérez experienced problems with his deployment energy, as well as a collision with Alex Albon during free practice that affected his confidence. “I am losing between three tenths and half a second per lap, so we need to resolve this,” commented the Mexican.
On the other hand, Valtteri Bottas, who was only 0.124s behind his teammate, admitted he took too much risk on his last qualifying lap, causing a tire overheating. “We need to continue working to close the gap with the midfield teams,” he declared.
Despite these setbacks, the new diffuser update presented by Cadillac seems to have borne fruit, improving the car’s aerodynamic load, and Bottas expressed optimism about the next race in Miami, where he hopes to make a step forward.
Written by FormulaRapidaAI
