Mario Andretti criticizes Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas’ pace in Cadillac’s Formula 1 debut

The Cadillac team faces a challenging start to the season in its debut in the Fórmula 1, remaining without winning points after the first two rounds of the 2026 championship. The team’s consultant and 1978 world champion, Mario Andretti, expressed concern about the performance of the driver duo made up of veterans Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Pérez. Segundo the former driver, the lack of competitive pace is evident, as both competitors spent the 2025 season away from the starting grid of the highest category of motorsport.

The current scenario places Cadillac in an uncomfortable position in the constructors’ table, sharing last place with Aston Martin, which also did not open its score. Mario Andretti highlighted that adaptation to the new equipment and the dynamics of the races has been slower than initially projected by the American team’s technical management. The consultant’s analysis suggests that the choice of experienced training, but which came from a period of inactivity, brought unforeseen obstacles to the immediate development of the car in a GP environment.

Performance of veteran pilots under analysis

Cadillac’s decision to join the grid with two 36-year-old competitors was based on the search for refined technical feedback for the development of the chassis. Entretanto, practical results on the Austrália and China tracks revealed that the duo is still trying to find the reaction time necessary to face the top teams. Mario Andretti categorically stated that the drivers are “rusty”, justifying that excessive caution to avoid accidents has limited the aggressiveness necessary to fight for positions in the intermediate field.

• Sergio Pérez finished the opening race at Austrália in a modest 16th position, far from the points zone.
• Valtteri Bottas suffered from a mechanical failure in Melbourne, which prevented any consistent data collection under race conditions.
• In the China GP, the team managed to take both cars to the final checkpoint, but the 13th and 15th places still do not reflect the investment made.

The consultant emphasized that the priority of Bottas and Pérez has been the preservation of the material, avoiding creating extra work for mechanics with unnecessary repairs to crashes. Essa’s conservative stance is seen as a direct consequence of the time both spent off the track after being released from their previous teams at the end of 2024. The lack of real mileage in 2025 appears to have weighed more than the vast experience accumulated by both on teams like Mercedes, Red Bull and Williams over the last decade.

Technical limitations of the chassis and aerodynamics

In addition to criticism directed at human performance, Mario Andretti revealed details about the mechanical deficiencies that the Cadillac model presents at this early stage of the competition. Feedback collected in technical meetings points to a critical lack of downforce, which compromises grip in high-speed corners. The instability of the rear of the car has been the most frequent complaint for Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas, making it difficult to have the confidence necessary to attack the curbs and optimize lap times.

The issue of the power unit also figures among the priorities of the engineering department of the team based at Estados Unidos. Battery charge management and hybrid system power delivery have not yet reached the level of efficiency demonstrated by traditional suppliers such as Ferrari and Mercedes. Andretti highlighted that Cadillac is not the only organization struggling to maximize the performance of the new engines, but admitted that the learning curve for a newcomer is considerably steeper and more punishing.

Challenges in integrating the new American team

The entry of Cadillac as the 11th team on the grid ended a ten-year period in which Fórmula 1 operated with just ten participating teams. Essa expansion brought immense logistical and sporting pressure, especially as it put the team in direct comparison with Haas, the other representative of the Estados Unidos in the category. The Cadillac project aims to establish a solid engineering foundation on American soil, but reliability issues observed during pre-season testing have shown that the road to competitiveness will be a long one.

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Engineers are now working on a package of urgent updates to try to fix the stability issues reported by veteran pilots. The team believes that once the chassis balance issues are resolved, Bottas and Pérez will be able to extract the potential that has seen them win major prizes in the past. The internal expectation is that the evolution of reliability seen in the China will be the first step for the team to be able to fight for points consistently in the next stages of the European calendar.

The analysis of Mario Andretti serves as a public warning for the team structure to accelerate improvement processes before the season progresses to its intermediate phase. The consultant believes that the potential exists, but it requires a perfect alignment between the technical evolution of the machine and the recovery of the pilots’ physical and mental shape. Elite motorsport is not forgiving of prolonged adaptation periods, and Cadillac needs to prove that its selection of veterans will bring the expected return in terms of long-term development for the brand.

Development strategy for next steps

The technical board of Cadillac plans to introduce new aerodynamic components in the coming weeks to try to remedy the lack of downforce mentioned by Andretti. The main focus will be on redesigning the floor and rear wings, seeking to provide drivers with a more predictable platform during braking and acceleration. Sem the necessary stability, the experience of Pérez and

Electrical energy management will also undergo software revisions, aiming for a more linear distribution of available power throughout each lap. The team observed that it loses considerable ground when exiting slow curves, where traction and immediate delivery of torque are essential for defending positions or overtaking. Andretti pointed out that the search for maximizing the current situation is a collective effort that involves everything from pilots to data analysts at the factory, highlighting that patience will be necessary, but the urgency for results is real.

The impact of the 2025 inactivity continues to be the central point of discussions about the drivers’ performance in the Fórmula 1 paddock. The American team’s hope lies in the ability of its runners to overcome, who have a proven track record of podiums and victories, essential elements to guide a debuting team through the technical complexities of the most technological category in the world.