Bottas: “How nice to be back on track! Some problems today, but we’re here to solve them”

Oh well, we’ll see Bottas again! Formula 1 has officially kicked off its new phase, inaugurating a technical cycle destined to profoundly change the face of single-seaters. The regulatory revolution, which affects aerodynamics, mechanics and overall design philosophy, began with the shakedown on the Catalan Montmeló circuit, the first test bed to verify in the field the concepts developed in the previous months by the teams. Among the teams that immediately took to the track in Catalonia was the newly formed Cadillac, busy collecting valuable data in this initial phase. At the wheel of the new car were two old acquaintances of the Circus – Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez – who this year will return on a permanent basis to drive the group’s Cinderella in the mare magnum of F1, a completely new world for the team created by Mario Andretti. The team finished third to last, with Bottas beating Checo. Bottas’ words The Finn commented on his return to the track: “It’s been a while, but it’s fantastic to be back with this brand new team. It was a unique emotion. I really enjoyed being back on the track, it was the first time I’d driven this car. Obviously, from a performance point of view, there’s still not much to say, but the main thing is that we did a few laps, and in the end we had a longer run. They are the first steps to eliminate all the defects of the car”. “It was cold this morning and it was quite difficult to operate. As the temperature increased, things improved a bit: we had some problems during the day, but it’s normal to find them and solve them, that’s what we’re here for. And then it seems that all the teams had some problems,” he added. “I really like everything about the team so far. Everyone is looking at things with new eyes, from a different perspective. We have a lot of experience gained in different teams and everyone has worked hard to get here. We’re starting from scratch together, and I think it’s a bigger challenge than the other teams. I’m very proud of everyone so far and I’m enjoying it. Plus there’s the challenge of these cars, which have a slightly lower load, especially in high-speed corners, a power unit with a lot more torque coming out of corners and battery management to lend to Be careful. It’s a learning curve, there’s still a lot to learn, but it’s like that for every team: the priority now is to do more laps every day, accumulating kilometers and making sure we have a reliable package for the first race.”