Last weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix was barely a few corners old before the black-and-white Cadillacs of Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas decided to get a little too close for comfort.
The nascent American outfit – which desperately needs mileage more than results at this stage of its journey in F1 – almost saw its two veteran drivers wipe out each other in a clumsy embrace at Turn 3.
Battling over 14th place in the tight left-hander, Perez lunged for the inside. With Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin looming on the outside, the Mexican veteran clipped the kerb, sending his front-right wheel into Bottas’s sidepod.
The resulting spin left Perez facing the wrong way and the Finn’s car nursing significant floor damage.
‘That was all on me’
While many driver pairings might have dissolved into a radio-frequency shouting match, the Cadillac duo opted for a refreshing dose of maturity. Speaking after the race, Perez didn't look for excuses or blame the turbulence of the new-gen aero; he fell on his sword immediately.
“That was all on me,” the Mexican admitted. “I saw the gap, I went for it. But obviously, looking at it, Valtteri had nowhere to go.
“Unfortunately, it ended up costing me the race because I spun, I lost a lot of time. Luckily, I managed to come back to the field.”
The mishap was only the start of a gremlin-filled afternoon for Checo.
“And then on the second stint, I was about to overtake Valtteri with the overtake mode on and I lost the engine. I lost the battery, so I lost like five seconds. And then later on, I lost another 15 or 20 seconds,” he explained.
“So in general, I think the positive thing is that we finished with both cars. The negative is that I think we have a lot of cleaning to do in a lot of areas to make sure that we don't lose track position and we arrive to the races a lot more prepared.”
When asked about the ease of discussing such blunders with a teammate like Bottas, Perez was clinical.
“Well, I think it's how it should be, when there are no bad intentions between team-mates, and when you look at the incident,” he said.
“Straight away, I think it's important just to apologise and realise that you messed up. That's how it is, you know, sometimes you make mistakes; unfortunately, it was with Valtteri, but I'm happy he finished the race.”
Survival of the fittest
For Bottas, the contact turned the Grand Prix into a survival mission. Despite a gaping hole in his carbon fiber, the Finn managed to showcase the reliability that has surprisingly eluded giants like McLaren this weekend.
“I had a big piece missing from the floor on the left side, so that didn't help,” Bottas revealed. “I just felt the contact, I didn't really know he was there.
“But all good in the end, and yes, very, very happy to be 13th in our second grand prix for the team, getting already close to the points. Of course, there were many DNFs, but it's a good one for us.”
While finishing 44 seconds off the points might make "close" feel like a stretch, the fact that Cadillac brought both cars home is a welcome morale booster for the American brand.
“Very proud,” Bottas said when asked about the team's resilience. “Like I said, for the second race to finish with both cars… P13, P15 is decent, so it's a good starting point.
“For sure we're lacking pace; we can see that it's pretty much only Aston at the moment that we can fight with, but at least we can fight with them. But if we want to beat some other teams then we need more performance.”
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