A small step forward made by Cadillac in the Chinese Grand Prix, where both cars of the rookie American team completed the race regularly. In Australia, while Sergio Perez had crossed the finish line, Valtteri Bottas’ return to F1 had proved disappointing for the Finn, who was instead forced to retire.
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The unexpected result
In Shanghai, the former Mercedes driver made up for it not only by starting on the grid ahead of his teammate, but also by finishing in 13th place, outside the points zone but still ahead of the former Red Bull driver: “A great result for the team, finishing with both cars in 13th and 15th position in our second Grand Prix – he commented – I didn’t expect it, given that other teams had several problems during the race. For my part, I had a relatively quiet race, which allowed us to get a good placement. We fought and managed to battle with Aston Martin. We have clearly made progress in all the necessary areas, from the first to the second race. I am really proud of this team, we are going in the right direction, but we know there is still work to do.”
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The risk at the start
Sergio Perez was also satisfied with the team’s overall result, but the Mexican complained about some problems encountered during the GP following an episode that risked ending the race for both drivers of the American team: “It was a good race today and we can be happy with our performance as a team, having brought both cars to the finish line in our second Grand Prix. My race was not easy: I had contact with Valtteri at the start, my fault. I was a bit too optimistic and didn’t realize he had no room to go, which cost me time. Then, every time I was making up ground, I had a couple of problems with energy delivery and ended up losing more than 20 seconds in total. But we should be proud of what we achieved in these two race weekends and I look forward to starting from here in the next race in Japan.”
