Valtteri Bottas revealed that several technical and setup issues heavily penalized his Cadillac in Canada.
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Valtteri Bottas acknowledged that his Cadillac was far from optimal during the 2026 Canadian Grand Prix, after an extremely difficult weekend in Montreal. The Finn revealed that several technical and setup problems strongly disrupted his driving throughout the weekend.
While Sergio Pérez once again dominated his teammate at Cadillac, Bottas finished last at the finish, four laps behind the winner Kimi Antonelli. A difficult performance that illustrates the huge challenges the young American team still has to face to establish itself sustainably in the pack.
Bottas frustrated by an unstable Cadillac
The Finnish driver explained that the behavior of his car constantly changed from one session to another, making the weekend particularly frustrating on the Gilles-Villeneuve circuit.
“We had several problems with the setup in Montreal, the car was very different in each session and even during the race, there were some things we couldn’t fix, so the car wasn’t at 100 %” Bottas told the media, including RacingNews365.
The 36-year-old veteran also admitted that he completely lacked confidence behind the wheel of the MAC-26, notably due to a persistent performance deficit compared to Sergio Pérez.
“The car is not yet in a situation where I can have full confidence. And we also know that my engine power was not at 100 %” added the Finn.
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Already penalized by a red flag caused by Fernando Alonso in the sprint qualifying, Bottas nevertheless had a significant gap behind Pérez, proof that Cadillac is still very far from the references of the field.
Cadillac continues its accelerated learning
Even if the results remain very difficult, Bottas insists that the team is progressing quickly since its debut in Formula 1. Cadillac is still discovering the demands of the championship and is trying to accelerate its development race after race.
Asked about the team’s main current focus, Bottas answered without hesitation: “Performance.”
The Finn then detailed the areas where Cadillac still needs to improve.
“We need to progress both mechanically and aerodynamically. We need to find new parts and continue to develop the car, but we have new updates practically at every Grand Prix, and that’s a good thing” he explained.
Despite the difficulties encountered in Montreal, Cadillac now hopes to take advantage of the European tour to gradually reduce the gap with the midfield.
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