Cadillac have come a long way already in 2026, even though the Formula 1 season is just three rounds old.<\/p>\n
The recent Japanese Grand Prix weekend was their best collective performance yet and, in the space of less than a month, the American squad have already made major strides. The fact that both Sergio Perez<\/a> and Valtteri Bottas<\/a> have finished two successive races is no mean feat.<\/p>\n While it may be a matter of baby steps, the weekend in Suzuka marked a significant step forward in terms of progress, which puts them in an exciting position to build on heading into the rest of the year.<\/p>\n What happened in Japan?<\/p>\n Cadillac<\/a> arrived in Japan with the hope of replicating their latest achievement from the Chinese Grand Prix, where they ticked off their first double car finish despite making contact<\/a> on the first lap. Things didn\u2019t get off to the greatest start, however, as Perez sustained damage in FP1 after he and Williams\u2019 Alex Albon<\/a> made contact.<\/p>\n The fixes were relatively straightforward and crucially, neither Cadillac driver suffered any reliability problems throughout the Free Practice sessions \u2013 this allowed them to instead focus on their performance and set-ups, and they headed into Qualifying<\/a> feeling encouraged.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, issues with energy deployment limited the team to P19 and P20 on the grid with Perez leading. Although they found themselves 1.279s away from getting into Q2, the team took it as a positive that they outqualified both Aston Martins<\/a> for the first time.<\/p>\n They then opted to split the strategy for the 53-lap race with Bottas becoming the only driver on the grid to start on hard tyres, while Perez joined everyone else on the medium compound. The gamble didn\u2019t fully pay off, especially as the Finn pitted shortly before the Safety Car was deployed, but both cars managed to improve and take 17th and 19th at the chequered flag.<\/p>\n What did the drivers say?<\/p>\n The fact that Perez finished the race on the same lap as winner Kimi Antonelli<\/a> was a major boost, prompting him to label it \u201cour strongest race so far this year\u201d in post-race quotes shared by Cadillac.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve made a lot of progress in a short space of time, and we can be happy to get two cars past the finish yet again,\u201d he added. \u201cYesterday we had some issues with the deployment and today it felt like we were on top of it. We were clearly faster than Aston Martin and we can see our pace is getting stronger.\u201d<\/p>\n