Valtteri Bottas has revealed his Cadillac was not "100 per cent" at the Canadian Grand Prix, explaining that some of the issues could not be remedied over the weekend.
The Finnish driver detailed how the changeable nature of his MAC-26 left him lacking confidence in the cockpit at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
Even before the round in Montreal, the 10-time grand prix winner had struggled to match the performance of Sergio Perez, and his team-mate comfortably had the measure of him again.
Whilst the eight-tenths deficit in sprint qualifying was not wholly representative, as Bottas was denied a second push lap due to the Fernando Alonso-induced red flag, there was still the same delta between the Cadillac drivers in main qualifying, too.
After finishing the grand prix last on the road and four laps down on winner Kimi Antonelli, the 36-year-old revealed the extent of the problems hindering him.
"We had a few issues [in Montreal] with the setup, the car was very different in each session, and even [in the grand prix], there were some things that we couldn't fix, so the car is not 100%," Bottas told media, including RacingNews365.
"For sure, it's not yet in a place where I can gain good confidence with the car, but also we know that my power wasn't 100%."
Only a handful of rounds into its F1 project, Cadillac is on a steep learning curve. Although there is a lot of work to be done, Bottas was keen to underline the rapid rate of development.
"Performance," the former Williams, Mercedes and Alfa Romeo/Sauber driver promptly responded when asked what the main thing he and the fledgling team are working on.
Elaborating, he added: "Both mechanically and aero-wise equally, we've got to improve and find new parts, but there are parts coming for pretty much each race, and that's a good thing."
Originally published by RacingNews365 —
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