Photo: Cadillac Formula 1 Team
Perez highlights tyre degradation as Cadillac’s biggest short-term challenge
Sergio Pérez believes tyre degradation is the main area Cadillac must address as it continues its debut Formula 1 season. Despite limited resources and only one retirement in the opening four races, the American team has shown encouraging reliability and remains closely matched with Aston Martin at the back of the field.
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Pérez says Cadillac’s ability to manage its tyres more effectively will be crucial if the team wants to take another step forward in Formula 1.
The American outfit introduced its first major upgrade package at the Miami Grand Prix, and the team is now focused on understanding how to extract the maximum performance from the updated MAC-26.
Although Cadillac has yet to score a point, its start to life in Formula 1 has been respectable. The team has completed four race weekends with just one retirement and has already achieved two 13th-place finishes, underlining both solid reliability and improving competitiveness.
Cadillac is currently tied with Aston Martin at the bottom of the Constructors’ Championship, with Valtteri Bottas’s 13th place in China giving the team the advantage on countback.
In Miami, however, Aston Martin gained the upper hand. Both of its cars qualified ahead of the two Cadillacs, while Pérez finished 16th after a close race-long battle with Fernando Alonso, who crossed the line in 15th.
Reflecting on the weekend, Pérez pointed to excessive tyre wear as the biggest weakness the team must address.
"We just had a bit of degradation, I think we were degrading the tyres a little bit too much," Pérez said, as quoted by RacingNews365..
"We chose the hard, but in hindsight, I think we should have gone for the soft, so it is something to analyse, but at the same time, understanding this package will be key to making more progress in Canada. Because we need to understand it more to try to bring better solutions, and we don't have much time, but I think one of the short-term things we need to improve is degradation. We have some ideas there, but it is just putting all of the groups together that will be the biggest work in the coming weeks for the team," the Cadilac driver added.
