Bottas parked Cadillac's second car with a suspected power-unit failure at COTA, his ninth DNF in a season that's quickly become a reliability nightmare for America's newest F1 team. Eight of those retirements trace back to technical gremlins the squad still can't fully diagnose. "Sometimes we don't quite understand them," Bottas admitted—a worrying confession seven months into Cadillac's return.
The silver lining arrived in the laps before the engine cried. Both Cadillacs ran closer to the Aston Martins and Williams than anyone expected, a pace bump Bottas chalked up to cloud cover masking the team's documented heat-sensitivity issues. Perez crossed the line 20 seconds behind Alonso; Bottas was just five back when he pulled off.
Mexico's forecast brings sun and 26°C temps—exactly the conditions Cadillac can't handle. The learning curve remains steep, and 2027's car may be the only real cure.
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