Victim of a spectacular suspension failure during the Canadian Grand Prix, Sergio Pérez is now calling for a thorough investigation from Cadillac.
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Sergio Pérez’s Canadian Grand Prix ended spectacularly after a sudden failure of his right front suspension on the Gilles-Villeneuve circuit.
The Mexican driver had just left the long back straight on lap 39 when he headed towards the pit entry. It was at that precise moment that his Cadillac’s suspension abruptly collapsed, forcing him to bring his car back slowly to the garage before retiring definitively.
An incident particularly worrying for Pérez, who believes the team must quickly understand the exact cause of the problem.
“This is something we need to analyze, understand, and resolve quickly, because what happened is clearly not ideal” said Sergio Pérez.
Cadillac singled out operationally
Even though Cadillac is only contesting its fifth race in Formula 1, Pérez no longer hides his frustration regarding the overall organization of the American team.
The Mexican considers that pure performance is gradually improving, but he believes that many operational shortcomings still prevent the team from fully exploiting its potential.
“Operationally, we are still very behind and we are not progressing fast enough in terms of performance. We need to maximize the car’s potential currently” he explained.
However, Pérez acknowledges that the team is working in the right direction regarding the car’s development.</
“We are making progress in performance, which is very positive. But operationally, we are missing a lot and we absolutely need to find solutions before the European season.”
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A completely failed strategic gamble
Like several drivers, Sergio Pérez had attempted a bold gamble at the start by choosing intermediate tires on a track that was mostly dry.
The Cadillac driver was among the seven drivers to take this risk, alongside notably the McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, as well as the Audis and Carlos Sainz.
But this strategic choice quickly turned into a disaster.
“During the laps to the grid, the situation really seemed 50-50. It was extremely difficult to choose the right tires” Pérez recounted.
The multiple aborted starts then completely changed the track conditions.
“With all the interrupted starts, the rain eased and it quickly became clear that slick tires were the best option.”
Pérez frustrated but satisfied with the pace shown
Despite this poor strategic choice and his final retirement, Pérez believes Cadillac showed encouraging pace during the race.
“We took the gamble, but very quickly it became clear we were on the wrong tires. In just three laps, the intermediates were destroyed, and that’s when everything got complicated.”
The Mexican nevertheless takes away some positive points from his Montreal weekend.
“We had good pace afterwards and some nice battles, notably against Haas. We managed a few overtakes before unfortunately this suspension failure.”
Cadillac will now have to react quickly before the European tour, as concerns about reliability and internal organization are already starting to grow.
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