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Posted on 03/15/2026 8:07:08 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Both Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Pérez saw the checkered flag in Shanghai
Every step along Cadillac’s Formula 1 journey has been a significant milestone for the team, and Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix was no exception.
In just their second race on the grid, Cadillac saw both Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Pérez take the checkered flag, with Bottas finishing in P13 and Pérez in P15.
Problems for several other teams helped Cadillac on this day as three drivers — Max Verstappen, Fernando Alonso, and Lance Stroll — did not finish the race while four more did not even get to start due to pre-race mechanical problems. But after Cadillac saw Bottas fail to finish the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, both drivers made the full race distance in Shanghai, marking a fresh milestone for F1’s newest team.
“We can be very pleased with that result,” said team principal Graeme Lowdon after the race. “We saw today that the complexity of the new cars has given some experienced teams significant issues, so to get two cars to the finish at the end of our second-ever race weekend is a great achievement for everyone in our team in Indianapolis, Charlotte, Silverstone and Germany.
“More than that, we showed a good step forward in pace and overall performance throughout the weekend and were able to race other teams. It’s been a tough couple of weeks and I am very grateful to everyone in the team for all of their hard work. We can leave this first double-header with our heads held high, confident that we have a really good foundation which we can build on going forward.”
Pérez, who made contact with Bottas shortly after the lights went out, noted that the team should be “proud” given what they have accomplished in such a short time.
“It was a good race today and we can be happy with our performance as a team, getting both cars to the finish in just our second Grand Prix. My race wasn’t straightforward – I had contact with Valtteri at the start, which was on me. I was a bit over-optimistic and didn’t realize he had nowhere to go, which cost me some time,” said the veteran driver. “Then, every time I was closing the gap, I had a couple of issues with energy deployment and ended up losing more than 20 seconds overall. But we should be proud of what we’ve achieved over these two race weekends, and I’m looking forward to building on this at the next race in Japan.”
As for Bottas, he shared the pride noted by his teammate.
“A great result for the team to finish with both cars in P13 and P15 in only our second Grand Prix. It’s not something I expected as other teams had multiple issues across the race. From my side, I had a relatively trouble-free race, which put us in a solid finishing position,” said Bottas. “We were racing and managed to get Aston Martin with some good battles. We’ve clearly made progress in all the areas needed from race one to race two. I’m really proud of this team as we’re heading in the right direction, but we know there’s still work to do.”
Cadillac, along with the rest of the grid, will be back in action in two weeks at the Japanese Grand Prix.
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PRETTY SURE THIS RACE WAS AT LEAST A WEEK AGO.
BAHRAIN & SAUDI ARABIA F-1 RACES ARE CANCELED
Impressive.
Huh? It was 21 hours ago as I post.
This is no real slap on the back for Cadillac if you know about formula 1 engines. Formula 1 cars currently use highly sophisticated 1.6-liter V6 turbocharged hybrid power units. These engines incorporate advanced Energy Recovery Systems (ERS) to produce over 900 horsepower. They feature a 90-degree V-angle, a single turbocharger, and strict regulations limiting fuel flow, forcing optimization of the engine for efficiency. You wouldn’t see any of this on a stock public car.
When’s the last time you saw a car on the roadway that had that much power? And of course the rest of the car is set up for speed and operating proficiency to handle a track and not the roadway. All kinds of differences. So Cadillac as far as the public is concerned had little to offer them from this.
wy69
Are you saying they do not have gold plated emblems like all those cadillacs in the 70’S?
I guess these are not your uncle’s ___ canoes anymore?
“I guess these are not your uncle’s ___ canoes anymore?”
They designed an F1 race car. If you put a bumper and lights and got it licensed, it still couldn’t get through the drive through at Taco Bell. Turns are too tight. But it will get you to the post office down the street in record time and outrun any southern sheriff anywhere as long as it ran a straight line or light banked curves.
wy69
Time to retire this hybrid era crap and bring back power by V8/10/12 ICE only. There is almost nothing used in the latest F1 vehicles that translates to anything useful in the real world. Toyota (primarily) and a few other auto makers have very successful hybrid designs for everyday use. These designs have nothing in common with F1 cars other than the hybrid concept.
And get that mucking fuslim out of the FIA’s governing body.
It was yesterday
They were lucky to have cars make it to the end of the race. The new car designs are a mess.
A typical F1 course has numerous extremely tight corners and sharp turns. The only issue with a Toco Bell would be sitting too low to order the tacos. The reason for hybrid technology is to use the kinetic energy in the multiple corners rather than losing it as brake heat. The tiny engines develop over 1000 hp due to turbo charging. My Acadia 2.4-liter 4-cylinder turbo engine develops almost the same hp as my V8 Corvette.
I believe Dodge has a Challenger over 1,000HP
those ___ canoes
haven’t heard that in a long time
chuckle
“and Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix was no exception.”
— ‘Nuff said.
Indeed - they’ve really screwed the pooch with this regulation set. With any luck, the hybrid nonsense will be minimized in the future.
With so many drivers contracts expiring this year, the silly season will likely be epic.
Cadillac does make some pretty impressive street cars, my 2016 CTS-V hauls ass and is faster than almost every car on the road, puts out 640 HP. most of the others are speed limited but mine does 200 right off the showroom floor. The Corvette folks wenht to Cadillac and asked them to tone it down a little cuz it was beating all their new corvettes, so They doubled down and added 35 HP to the new Blackwing.
Nope, Saturday night/Sunday morning depending on where you are on the planet.
“A typical F1 course has numerous extremely tight corners and sharp turns.”
But those turns use downforce to get through them and that takes speeds a lot faster than navigating a 180 degree turn in a drive through.
According to AI, the 2024 and 2025 GMC Acadia features a 2.5-liter turbocharged 4-cylinder engine producing 328 horsepower and 326 lb-ft of torque. Of course any mill can be doctored to create more horses, but being used under normal conditions on the highways it would be an overkill and probably drain the gas tank the first time you floor it and try to keep the tires on the road. I was driving a 426 hemi VA in a charger in 1969, doctored, and went from 55 to 120 in a freeway on ramp in LA and burned an eight of a tank of gas doing it.
If you were towing, it would be a help.
Also according to AI, 1.6L Formula 1 engines produce ~1000 horsepower by combining a highly turbocharged 1.6-liter V6 combustion engine (~850 hp) with sophisticated hybrid electric systems (~160 hp). They achieve this through extreme boost pressures (up to 70 PSI), high RPMs (up to 15,000), pre-chamber ignition, and high thermal efficiency. So those tight turns need to be at speed and 190 mph can’t be accomplished in the drive through so they would lose boost pressure.
And you’re right, they would spill the tacos.
wy69
There are a number of cars on the roads that have 1000 horse capacity. Almost all of them are foreign cars.
List includes:
Hypercars: Bugatti Chiron Super Sport (~1,600 hp), Koenigsegg Jesko (~1,600 hp), Rimac Nevera (1,914 hp), Aston Martin Valkyrie (~1,160 hp), Hennessey Venom F5 (1,817 hp), Pininfarina Battista (1,900 hp).
Performance/Sedans: Lucid Air Sapphire (1,234 hp), Tesla Model S Plaid (~1,020 hp), Lamborghini Revuelto (1,001 hp).
Muscle Cars/Trucks: Dodge Challenger SRT Demon 170 (1,025 hp), GMC Hummer EV (1,000 hp)
But you don’t find them on US roadways very often. Too expensive on most of them.
wy69
Pretty sure this race was 3 days ago.
Cadillac finished 13th and 15th (last of the finishers.) This is the biggest list of non-wreck related DNFs I can remember.
DNF: Verstappen, Alonso, Stroll.
Did not even start: Piastro, Norris, Bortoleto, and Albon.
A total of 7 cars did not finish the race.
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