Daily News 19

Tag: Valtteri Bottas

  • ‘Bit of a shock to the system’: Budkowski shares first impressions leading Cadillac F1 team

    ‘Bit of a shock to the system’: Budkowski shares first impressions leading Cadillac F1 team

    Key Highlights

    • Marcin Budkowski returns to Formula 1 as Cadillac Team Principal after a two-year absence, replacing Graeme Lowdon ahead of the Dutch Grand Prix.
    • Budkowski describes the return as “a bit of a shock to the system” due to the sport’s intense pace and technical complexity, particularly the sensory overload of 12 radio channels on the pit wall.
    • Despite Cadillac remaining the only team without points in their maiden season, Budkowski identifies short-term reliability and long-term performance development as clear priorities.

    Budkowski Re-Enters F1 Paddock With Cadillac Appointment

    Former FIA and Alpine executive Marcin Budkowski has assumed the role of Team Principal at Cadillac Formula 1 Team, marking his return to the sport after a two-year hiatus. The Polish engineer and manager, who previously held senior positions at Prost, McLaren, Alpine, and the FIA, took the helm just before the Dutch Grand Prix at the end of August, succeeding Graeme Lowdon. His appointment comes at a critical juncture for the American squad, which is navigating its inaugural season as the only entry on the grid yet to score a championship point.

    Adjusting to the “Shock” of F1’s Relentless Pace

    Speaking during Friday’s teams’ press conference ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix, Budkowski offered a candid assessment of his first weeks back in the paddock. He acknowledged that the transition from media roles with Eleven Sports Poland and Viaplay back to the operational coalface has been jarring.

    “What hits you first is the pace of F1, which I knew well but a few years out of the sport and it’s a bit of a shock to the system because it’s incredibly fast-paced, technical and hard-working, especially when you start in a new team and new project,”

    Budkowski said. He also highlighted the immediate sensory challenge of returning to the pit wall.

    “The other thing is the first time I sat again on the pit wall in FP1 in Zandvoort and I had 12 channels blasting in my ears. It took me a little bit of time for my brain to get used to it.”

    Leadership Philosophy: People Over Processes

    Despite the technological and operational intensity, Budkowski insists the core tenets of leadership remain unchanged. He emphasized that building a competitive outfit ultimately relies on human capital and organizational alignment rather than purely technical solutions.

    “But the reality is, if you bring it back to the essentials and basics, it’s about people, it’s about building the team. It’s about putting the right people in the right positions, getting everybody to work together and in terms of leadership, give them a vision and align everybody in that direction. That hasn’t changed.”

    Assessing Cadillac’s Maiden Season: Progress Amid Struggles

    Cadillac’s debut campaign has been defined by a lack of pace and reliability, with Valtteri Bottas’ 13th-place finish in the Chinese Grand Prix standing as the team’s best result to date. However, after overseeing three race weekends, Budkowski expressed encouragement regarding the internal culture and structural foundations laid under difficult circumstances.

    “I’ve seen a lot of good things in the team, and it’s pretty impressive given the time they had to build the team and conditions with the entry and everything. A lot of good things, there’s no legacy compared to some other teams. There’s a lot of open-minded, constructive discussions going on but there’s also a number of shortcuts that are being taken, which is inevitable when you build a new team in such a time.”

    He identified immediate operational reliability as the primary short-term focus, acknowledging the gap to the front-runners.

    “It’s about working in some areas that need more attention. In the short-term, reliability. We’ve seen we’ve struggled with that in some areas and just getting the operational excellence to the next level, which is not the level of a top team as of today, but that’s understandable.”

    Looking further ahead, Budkowski noted that strategic priorities for performance gains are crystallizing.

    “Longer term, there’s some clearer priorities emerging for what we need to do and better, mostly to improve our performance and our pace.”

    Why This Matters

    Budkowski’s appointment signals Cadillac’s intent to stabilize a turbulent maiden voyage by installing a proven operator with deep institutional knowledge of F1’s sporting and technical regulations. His experience at the FIA—where he served as Head of the F1 Technical Department—and his tenure at Alpine/Renault provide a rare blend of governance insight and team management expertise. For a new entrant struggling with the basics of operational excellence, his focus on “people” and “process” over quick technical fixes suggests a methodical, long-term restructuring approach. The team’s ability to translate his diagnosis of “shortcuts” into robust systems will determine whether they can escape the backmarker status before the 2026 regulation reset.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    When did Marcin Budkowski officially become Cadillac Team Principal?
    Budkowski assumed the role just before the Dutch Grand Prix at the end of August, replacing Graeme Lowdon.
    What is Cadillac’s best result in their debut 2024 season?
    The team’s highest finish to date is Valtteri Bottas’ 13th place at the Chinese Grand Prix; they remain the only team without a championship point.
    What are Budkowski’s stated priorities for the team?
    In the short term, he is focusing on reliability and operational excellence. Long-term priorities center on structural improvements to elevate performance and pace.
  • Was Cadillac “faster” than Williams in Madring F1 Race?

    Was Cadillac “faster” than Williams in Madring F1 Race?

    Key Highlights

    • Sergio Perez showed strong race pace at the Spanish Grand Prix, matching and briefly surpassing Alexander Albon’s Williams before a water leak forced his retirement.
    • Teammate Valtteri Bottas struggled with significant tire degradation and brake management, highlighting a performance disparity within the Cadillac squad.
    • Cadillac targets improvement at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, where the Baku circuit’s low-downforce nature may mask the MAC-26’s current aerodynamic deficiencies.

    Perez Finds Encouraging Pace Amid Reliability Woes

    Cadillac’s maiden Formula 1 campaign has largely been defined by backmarker status, but the Spanish Grand Prix at the new Madrid circuit—referred to as Madring—offered a glimmer of competitiveness from Sergio Perez. The Mexican driver qualified 18th but made a lively start, jumping past Yuki Tsunoda and Carlos Sainz to sit 16th. More importantly, his race pace proved genuinely competitive against the midfield benchmark.

    Perez spent the entirety of his race shadowing Alexander Albon’s Williams, running a near-identical strategy of mediums to hards under the Virtual Safety Car. “I was pretty much the same pace as [Alexander] Albon all the way through,” Perez commented. “I was within a second or two until we had the issue. So a really strong weekend for the team in terms of pace. We pushed everything, we were on the limit with the brakes, but we pushed to the very limit, and [I’m] happy with that.” Telemetry backed his assessment: while Perez was 0.403 seconds per lap slower on the medium compound over 11 representative laps, he turned the tables on the hard tire, lapping 0.351 seconds quicker than Albon over eight laps before a terminal water leak and blue flags ended his challenge.

    Bottas Highlights Degradation and Durability Deficits

    The picture was starkly different for Valtteri Bottas. The Finn languished at the rear of the field, managing excessive brake temperatures with persistent lift-and-coast throughout the afternoon. “We know we need to improve,” the Finn nervously chuckled. “The car is still not robust enough, and we need to make it a lot faster. And the deg today highlights how much we’re lacking, it’s like way more than the competition.” Cadillac’s reliability record underscores the struggle: the team has suffered 11 retirements or non-starts in the 2026 season, fewer than Aston Martin’s 15 but significantly more than Williams’ seven.

    When presented with Perez’s positive comparison to Albon, Bottas offered a nuanced counterpoint. “In the beginning we can be there, we’ve seen, but as the race progresses, the deg gets worse. But actually for the next event, I’m more hopeful that we can be there. Baku, the only high-speed corners, they are flat out; otherwise it’s slow- or medium-speed.” His assessment points to a fundamental aerodynamic inefficiency on the MAC-26 that punishes the car disproportionately on conventional circuits.

    Why This Matters: A Two-Tier Trajectory for a Rookie Team

    The divergent weekends of Perez and Bottas expose the volatile nature of Cadillac’s development curve. Perez’s ability to match a race-winning midfield outfit like Williams—albeit over a limited sample—suggests the underlying potential of the chassis and power unit package exists, provided the car is in its optimal window. Conversely, Bottas’s experience confirms that the operational window remains dangerously narrow, with tire degradation and thermal management acting as primary performance limiters. With 11 DNFs already on the board, reliability is not merely a statistical blemish but a barrier to data accumulation. The upcoming Azerbaijan Grand Prix represents a critical calibration opportunity: Baku’s unique layout, dominated by long straights and low-speed corners, reduces the downforce demand that currently plagues the MAC-26. A strong showing there would validate the team’s aerodynamic diagnosis and provide momentum heading into the European swing, but it would not solve the fundamental lack of robustness that Bottas emphasized.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    How did Sergio Perez’s pace compare to Alexander Albon at the Spanish Grand Prix?

    On the opening medium stint, Perez lapped 0.403 seconds slower per lap than Albon. After both switched to hard tires under the Virtual Safety Car, Perez was 0.351 seconds per lap quicker over eight representative laps before a water leak and blue flags intervened.

    What are Cadillac’s main technical issues according to Valtteri Bottas?

    Bottas cited insufficient car robustness, excessive tire degradation relative to rivals, and persistent brake temperature management issues requiring significant lift-and-coast throughout the race.

    Why is the Azerbaijan Grand Prix seen as a better opportunity for Cadillac?

    The Baku circuit features predominantly slow- and medium-speed corners with only flat-out high-speed sections, reducing the downforce demand that currently exposes the MAC-26’s aerodynamic deficiencies on conventional tracks.

  • F1 World Champion Among Drivers for Race of Champions’ First New Zealand Event

    F1 World Champion Among Drivers for Race of Champions’ First New Zealand Event

    Key Highlights

    • Race of Champions confirms inaugural New Zealand event at Wellington’s Hnry Stadium on January 9-10, 2027, with four drivers announced.
    • Four-time Formula 1 world champion Sebastian Vettel headlines the lineup alongside current F1 driver Valtteri Bottas, 2025 Supercars champion Chaz Mostert, and New Zealand rally star Hayden Paddon.
    • Event marks the first time the Race of Champions visits New Zealand, promising a multi-discipline motorsport spectacle inside a major sports stadium.

    Race of Champions Unveils First Drivers for Historic Wellington Debut

    The Race of Champions has officially launched its inaugural New Zealand edition, confirming the first four competitors for the event scheduled at Wellington’s Hnry Stadium on 9-10 January 2027. The announcement signals a significant milestone for the international motorsport competition, which has never previously staged an event in New Zealand. Organizers have assembled a diverse quartet representing Formula 1, Supercars, and the World Rally Championship, underscoring the series’ signature format of pitting champions from different disciplines against one another in identical machinery.

    Vettel Leads Star-Studded Lineup as Serial ROC Winner

    Four-time Formula 1 world champion Sebastian Vettel spearheads the entry list. The German veteran boasts an unparalleled Race of Champions pedigree, having participated in all but two events since 2007. He captured the Nations’ Cup six consecutive years from 2007 to 2012 alongside Michael Schumacher, added a seventh Nations’ Cup victory in 2017 with Pascal Wehrlein, and claimed the individual Champion of Champions title in London in 2015. Vettel revealed the personal connection that helped bring the event to New Zealand.

    “Before ROC Sydney I went for a first quick visit to New Zealand and was blown away by the beauty of the country, so I told the organisers jokingly, ‘Can you please bring the next ROC to New Zealand?’,” Vettel said. “I am really looking forward to competing against so many other champions from across the globe at the Race Of Champions in Wellington in January, and getting a chance to visit more of New Zealand.”

    Bottas, Mostert, and Paddon Complete Opening Quartet

    Joining Vettel is current Formula 1 driver Valtteri Bottas, a 10-time grand prix winner who now competes for the Cadillac team. The Finn will make just his third Race of Champions appearance. Representing the Australian Supercars championship is Chaz Mostert, the freshly crowned 2025 series champion who debuted at the event in Australia earlier this year. The home-nation hero is Hayden Paddon, a WRC rally winner and prominent figure in New Zealand motorsport, who expressed profound enthusiasm for the event’s arrival.

    “It’s amazing to see one of the world’s most spectacular motorsport events come to New Zealand for the first time ever,” Paddon said. “New Zealand is really in a golden age of motorsport at the moment across so many disciplines, and I can’t think of a more fitting celebration of this than hosting the Race Of Champions, that attracts so many of the biggest stars from all around the world.
    “This is really a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Kiwi motorsport fans to get up close and personal with drivers from F1, WRC, circuit and other motorsport forms, all battling it out in equal machinery inside one of New Zealand’s most famous sports stadiums. It’s really a historic event for so many reasons, and I’m personally incredibly proud to be a part of it.”

    Why This Matters: A Watershed Moment for New Zealand Motorsport

    The Race of Champions’ expansion to Wellington represents a strategic growth move for the event, which has traditionally rotated through major European venues and recent editions in Australia and the United States. By staging the competition inside Hnry Stadium—a venue synonymous with rugby and football—the organizers are targeting a mainstream sports audience beyond traditional motorsport circuits. The driver lineup reflects the series’ core philosophy: creating head-to-head matchups that are impossible in conventional championship racing, such as Vettel versus Bottas in a rally car or Paddon versus Mostert in a single-seater. For New Zealand, hosting the event validates Paddon’s assertion of a “golden age” across disciplines, potentially accelerating commercial investment and grassroots participation ahead of the 2027 spectacle.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    When and where is the Race of Champions New Zealand event taking place?
    The inaugural Race of Champions New Zealand event is scheduled for 9-10 January 2027 at Hnry Stadium in Wellington.
    Which drivers have been confirmed so far?
    Four drivers are confirmed: four-time F1 world champion Sebastian Vettel, current F1 driver Valtteri Bottas, 2025 Supercars champion Chaz Mostert, and New Zealand WRC rally winner Hayden Paddon.
    What makes the Race of Champions format unique?
    The Race of Champions pits champions from different motorsport disciplines—Formula 1, WRC, Supercars, and others—against each other in identical cars, creating direct head-to-head competition that does not exist in their respective championships.
  • 7 F1 Drivers Who Staged Remarkable Comebacks After Stellar Substitute Performances

    7 F1 Drivers Who Staged Remarkable Comebacks After Stellar Substitute Performances

    The final Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort delivered a major talking point: Yuki Tsunoda’s return to a race seat with Racing Bulls. After losing his Red Bull drive following a difficult 2025 campaign, the Japanese driver had been relegated to test and reserve duties. He seized the chance to stand in for Liam Lawson, who had himself been promoted to the senior team to cover for an injured Isack Hadjar. Tsunoda finished a strong eleventh, just shy of the points.

    “I did everything I could today and I really enjoyed it,” Tsunoda said after just missing out on points in P11. Whether the performance earns him a full-time grid return remains to be seen, but Formula 1 history offers several precedents where a standout substitute drive reignited a career.

    Nico Hulkenberg: The ultimate super-sub

    Finishing just ahead of Tsunoda in Zandvoort was Nico Hulkenberg, a driver intimately familiar with the power of a stand-in appearance. After being dropped by Renault at the end of 2019, Hulkenberg made three substitute starts for Racing Point during the 2020 season when Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll contracted Covid-19. A car issue prevented him from starting his first outing at Silverstone, but one week later at the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix he qualified third behind the Mercedes cars and finished seventh. His third appearance at the Nürburgring saw him charge from the back of the grid to eighth place.

    Those drives secured him a reserve role for 2021, two further stand-in weekends in 2022, and ultimately a full-time comeback with Haas in 2023. The 39-year-old has since thrived, moving to the then Kick Sauber outfit—now Audi—and scoring a long-awaited maiden podium at the 2024 British Grand Prix.

    Carlos Sainz: Turning a forced exit into a victory lap

    Unlike Tsunoda and Hulkenberg, Carlos Sainz has not been sidelined in F1, but he entered the 2024 season knowing he would leave Ferrari at year’s end. The blockbuster announcement that Lewis Hamilton would join the Scuderia for 2025 caught many off guard—perhaps including Sainz, who would make way for the seven-time champion. Complicating matters, appendicitis surgery forced him to miss the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, prompting a memorable substitute debut from then-F2 driver Ollie Bearman.

    Sainz returned two weeks later in Australia and produced a stunning comeback: second on the grid and his third career victory. The performance reminded the paddock of his calibre, attracting multiple suitors for 2025 before he signed with Williams.

    Alain Prost: Sabbatical leads to a fourth title

    Alain Prost’s split with Ferrari was far more acrimonious. After moving from McLaren, his 1990 debut season with the Scuderia ended in controversial title defeat to Ayrton Senna. Tensions escalated in 1991 as Prost publicly criticized the team’s declining competitiveness, leading to his dismissal before the season concluded. With no time to secure a 1992 seat, the “Professor” took a sabbatical.

    He returned with Williams for 1993 and announced his intent immediately, converting pole position into victory at the season opener in South Africa. Six more wins followed, delivering his fourth World Championship before he retired at the campaign’s close.

    Mika Salo: Filling Schumacher’s shoes at Ferrari

    Mika Salo debuted late in 1994 with Lotus and raced for Tyrrell and Arrows before losing his seat for 1999. An opportunity arose when he replaced an injured Ricardo Zonta at BAR for three races, but the bigger call came when Ferrari drafted him to substitute for Michael Schumacher after the German broke his leg at Silverstone.

    Despite the daunting task, Salo impressed with ninth on his Ferrari debut in Austria. At Hockenheim one round later, he qualified fourth, led the race, and moved aside for teammate Eddie Irvine—who was battling Mika Häkkinen for the title—to finish second for his first career podium. A second rostrum at Monza helped Ferrari secure the Constructors’ Championship, and Salo’s form earned a full-time Sauber drive for 2000.

    Valtteri Bottas: “Bottas 2.0” rises from a dark place

    Valtteri Bottas endured a winless 2018 season, dropping to fifth in the standings while teammate Lewis Hamilton claimed a sixth title. The Finn later revealed he contemplated leaving the sport after falling into a “dark place,” but used the winter to regroup. The revival was instant: at the 2019 Australian Grand Prix, he overtook polesitter Hamilton into the first corner and dominated to win by 20 seconds.

    Over the radio, he famously declared, “To whom it may concern, f*** you!”—a message he later admitted was “just all the frustration from the year before coming out.” That victory launched his strongest F1 season, yielding four wins and a career-best second place in the Drivers’ Championship.

    Kevin Magnussen: The “Viking comeback”

    Kevin Magnussen’s return after a year away mirrors the stand-in narrative. After four seasons with Haas (2017–2020), he was replaced for 2021 by rookies Nikita Mazepin and Mick Schumacher. Magnussen competed in other series until a late call from Haas to replace Mazepin for 2022. Despite the hiatus, he qualified seventh on his return in Bahrain and converted it to fifth on race day.

    Team Principal Guenther Steiner hailed it as “some f****** Viking comeback.” Magnussen later added a shock pole position in São Paulo and remained with Haas through 2024 before moving to the World Endurance Championship.

    Sergio Perez: From seat loss to maiden win and a Red Bull drive

    Sergio Perez has raced in F1 since his 2011 Sauber debut, spending 2013 with McLaren before joining Force India. His future turned uncertain when Sebastian Vettel signed for the team’s 2021 rebrand as Aston Martin, leaving Perez without a contract. He responded emphatically: a second place in Turkey for Racing Point, followed by a spectacular maiden victory in Sakhir after a first-lap incident dropped him to the back of the field.

    The win made him the first Mexican driver to win since Pedro Rodriguez in 1970. That recovery drive undoubtedly strengthened his case for a 2021 seat, leading to a four-year tenure with Red Bull.

    Each of these drivers turned a moment of uncertainty—whether a substitute appearance, a forced sabbatical, or a sudden seat loss—into a career-defining resurgence. Tsunoda’s determined drive at Zandvoort suggests he may yet join their ranks.

  • Sergio Perez: “I want three more years with Cadillac”

    Sergio Perez: “I want three more years with Cadillac”

    Sergio Perez believes he has “maybe three more years” left in Formula 1 and wants to use that time to help Cadillac establish itself in the sport.

    The Mexican driver left F1 at the end of 2024 after Red Bull released him following a difficult season. Perez had finished second in the 2023 drivers’ championship, but his form declined after a strong start to the campaign. He then slipped to eighth in the 2024 standings, recording only four podium finishes.

    After spending a year away from Formula 1, Perez returned when Cadillac signed him to partner Valtteri Bottas. The new team has opted for an experienced driver line-up as it prepares to enter the championship, with both drivers bringing knowledge of leading F1 operations to the project.

    Sergio Perez embraces Cadillac’s Formula 1 project

    Speaking on the F1 Beyond the Grid podcast, Perez said he is enjoying his role in helping shape Cadillac’s future. He described himself as “more than a driver” because of his involvement in development and the team’s wider direction.

    He added that only a small number of drivers have the opportunity to help build a Formula 1 team from the ground up.

    “I really feel like this is a project. And I really feel like I’m part of this project of this new era, like building something from scratch,” Perez said.

    “Of course, I want to win championships and be fighting at the front. But if you don’t have that opportunity, I think Cadillac, it’s something that motivates me a lot. It’s like building a team from scratch and starting basically from last to see how far we can go together.

    “And like you say, you know, I feel like here I’m much more than a driver. At the same time, they listen a lot to me on different things, on development and stuff. Only a few drivers can get that in their careers, and it’s the first time I can have this.”

    Perez says motivation will determine when he retires

    Perez later discussed his long-term future and explained that the key sign it is time to stop racing will be a decline in his “will” and concentration. He said a driver’s focus on the car, engineers and pursuit of performance eventually reveals whether the desire to compete is fading.

    For now, Perez believes the Cadillac project is providing enough motivation to keep him focused. He estimates that he could have approximately three years of racing remaining before turning his attention to interests outside Formula 1.

    “I think there’s a certain age where you start to drop,” he added. “I think it’s the engine inside you. It’s the will, and you see it from the outside, when you’re not in the car, how much you’re thinking on your engineers, on your car.

    “When you go away and you start thinking less and less on that, that’s the first alarm, I would say. It’s going away. Because when you’re young, all what you’re thinking, it’s what’s coming next, how you will be driving better, what different techniques you can use, and that sort of thing.

    “But as you get older and older – and some drivers are different. Some drivers, it happens at late 20s, mid-30s, mid-40s, and others – we might see Fernando until he’s 60! He’s still driving at a very high level. But I think Fernando is different.

    “He has that engine inside him still. You can see him whenever there is an opportunity, like whenever there is anything he can take advantage of, he still has that.

    “And you can see it. But everyone is different. I don’t think that there is a number, that there is an age. Although Formula 1 is very physical, very demanding, training is not a limitation like other sports, like within football or tennis. Here, I think, it’s more the brain or the vision.

    “I think at the same time, it’s really hard for a driver to realise it’s enough, that I’m not as competitive as I wish or as I want to be and you need to call it off. And I think to take that decision as a driver is not so easy.

    “But at the end, you need to be very honest with yourself and grateful, you know, to that kid that started everything and you need to be able to say, you know, it’s time to do something else.

    “It’s hard to tell you a number. Obviously, I don’t have much in it. Say, maybe three years more. I want to see this project moving forward. I think that requires a bit more time.

    “But yeah, I mean, I respect a lot what Fernando has done in the sport and the motivation he has. But for me, it wouldn’t be that long because I want to do other things out of Formula 1.”

    Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin Racing, Sergio Perez, Cadillac Racing. Photo by Guido De Bortoli / LAT Images via Getty Images.