The Cadillac Formula 1 team has revealed it is bringing another “substantial upgrade package” to this weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix.
The new American team unsurprisingly started life in F1 as a backmarker but has been making inroads performance-wise, courtesy of consistent updates to the MAC-26.
This included an upgraded rear wing and exhaust in Monaco, followed by further rear wing and cooling improvements at Barcelona, where Sergio Perez qualified just 1.9s down on the fastest Q1 time and outqualified the Aston Martins by 1.2s.
Cadillac is keeping up that pace going into the Red Bull Ring round, with Silverstone coming up next week. “The races now come along in rapid succession, and meeting that logistical element while improving our competitive performance is one of the key challenges of this part of the year,” said team principal Graeme Lowdon.
“We are however pleased to be able to bring another substantial upgrade package this weekend. With new sidepods and floor it’s a significant amount of work and we hope that it will continue our trajectory of steadily catching up to the midfield.
Sergio Perez, Cadillac Racing
Photo by: Alastair Staley / LAT Images via Getty Images
“We don’t underestimate the challenges Austria present, but we’re learning all the time and I’m confident we can make progress again this weekend.”
Points narrowly eluded Perez in a topsy-turvy Monaco race before a tough Spanish round, and the Mexican is confident the new parts will help Cadillac gain more ground in the pecking order.
“Every race it feels that we’re making progress, and there was a lot of valuable learning in getting to the checkered flag in Barcelona,” he said.
“The rate of development is very good, everyone back at the factory is going full speed to deliver new parts to the track, and the upgrade we have this weekend will hopefully provide another step.”
