How is Cadillac progressing with its Miami upgrades?

F1 Grand Prix, GP Miami, Miami

Cadillac left Saturday in Miami with a familiar blend of encouragement and frustration: clear progress on race pace, but another Qualifying session in which the raw one‑lap deficit proved too much to overcome.

Yet the tone inside the team was notably more upbeat than the results sheet might suggest, with all three voices – Valtteri Bottas, Sergio Pérez and team principal Graeme Lowdon – pointing to a car that is finally beginning to behave in a predictable, workable window. And with mixed weather a real possibility for Sunday, Cadillac see opportunity rather than limitation.

The Sprint offered the first signs of genuine competitiveness. Cadillac put both cars on the hard compound – a bold choice in a 19‑lap dash – and still managed to race in the midfield, with Pérez spending much of the early phase fighting Fernando Alonso. Both cars reached the flag without issue, a meaningful marker for a team still in its first season of Formula One.

Qualifying, however, told a more sobering story. Neither driver escaped Q1, with Bottas edging Pérez by three tenths. But the Finn’s tone afterwards was far from despondent.

“I felt a lot better with the car in Qualifying after making quite a few changes from the Sprint,” Bottas said after securing 20th on the grid with a 1:31.629.

“We knew it was going to be hard to reach Q2, but the gap to the midfield is getting closer, which is good to see. We’re continuing to deepen our understanding of the car and tyres to find more consistency which is all part of the process we’re on. Tomorrow is a great opportunity for us if it’s mixed conditions, so we’ll give it everything we can.”

His reference to mixed conditions was not accidental. With showers lingering in the forecast, Cadillac believe that a chaotic race could reward their improving execution and reliability.

Sergio Pérez’s Saturday followed a similar arc: promise early, disappointment later. He finished 16th in the Sprint after an aggressive opening phase, but his Qualifying session unravelled through a combination of driver error and technical trouble.

“This morning felt good as we were racing the first couple of laps but we were on the hard tyre, which wasn’t the right choice in the end,” he explained.

“But we learned a lot and this weekend it seems we are definitely more competitive. Qualifying was just very messy. On my second run I made a mistake, which was on me, and then the third lap I had a problem with the energy deployment so I missed the corner and lost this lap too. We have explored the balance, which we need to do, but we just didn’t get the most out of it today.”

Pérez’s 1:31.967 left him 21st, but his comments underline a theme: Cadillac are still mapping the limits of their package, and the process is yielding both gains and growing pains.

Team principal Graeme Lowdon struck a measured but optimistic tone. The team’s ability to race in the midfield on merit – particularly in the Sprint – is a tangible step forward from the opening rounds.

“Overall this weekend has been a step forward in performance, as we’ve been able to race other teams and be properly in the mix on race pace,” he said.

“We started the Sprint strongly and we were hoping to be further up in Qualifying, but weren’t able to capitalise fully on the inherent progress.

"That we are disappointed shows just how far we have come in just four races. We now need to look to the race tomorrow to put it all together.”