The significant pace deficit uncovered by Cadillac in its first three F1 races
Cadillac has surpassed early-season expectations, but Sergio Perez is under no illusions about the scale of the challenge to take the next step.
Sergio Perez admits that his Cadillac Formula 1 team needs to find a second per lap in order to challenge the cars ahead, and his hopes are now focused on a significant upgrade package due in Miami.
Cadillac has already outpaced the troubled Aston Martin team with both Perez and team-mate Valtteri Bottas qualifying ahead of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll at Suzuka.
In the race, Perez finished 17th, and he just managed to stay on the lead lap, helped by the safety car period closing the field.
He finished some 27 seconds off the battling pair of Carlos Sainz and Franco Colapinto, having lost roughly a second a lap to them from the safety car resumption to the chequered flag.
That was also reflected in a 1.1-second margin between the fastest race lap of Perez and those of Sainz and Colapinto.
“It was quite interesting,” said the Mexican. “When I was following, I was racing at the time the Williams and the Alpine, I could see that they were not too far away. They're just able to consistently keep finding pace and pace and pace.
“I think it's clear that we need a second now, and I really hope that we are bringing a big upgrade for Miami, and I think that will be the biggest test for the team.
“I think we've been progressing every Grand Prix. This is the first Grand Prix that more or less everything has been straightforward, apart from the deployment issues I had yesterday [in qualifying]. I really hope we can make that step to be in the mix with the midfield.”
He emphasised that the key issue that has to be addressed is adding downforce: “I think there are a lot of areas, but I think at the moment the main one is load, it’s where we are lacking the most. The balance itself is not too bad – it’s just that we are lacking the load.”
Nevertheless, Perez is pleased with the steps Cadillac has already taken since the start of the season.
“Yeah, definitely. I think I could see encouraging signs. I think there is some work to do also with the deployment. I could see that they were deploying differently to us, a few of the teams. Something to work on.
“But I think the main thing is that we need load. And obviously, we're bringing the upgrade to Miami, and it will be the biggest test for us.”
In this article
Adam Cooper attended his first F1 race at Brands Hatch as a 10-year-old fan in 1976. He became a freelance journalist for Autosport magazine in 1985 while still at university, initially covering everything from club racing to the FIA World Sportscar Championship.
