Bottas Scare Raises Fresh Technical Concerns at Cadillac

Valtteri Bottas took the scare of the weekend at the Mexico Grand Prix: the Finnish Cadillac driver lost control of his car on the braking for turn 1 when the front left suspension broke suddenly, the car crossed the escape zone and crashed backwards into the barriers causing the red flag and the interruption of the race. Bottas got out of the car on his own feet although visibly shaken and was transferred to the medical center for a routine check, minutes later he was discharged and breathed easy.

"It was a big impact entering turn 1 but luckily I'm fine. Thanks to the medical team for checking me and to everyone who helped at the scene, it is a sign of the hard work the FIA has done for many years to make our sport as safe as possible" the Finn declared after the crash. Bottas who had started from the back of the grid after serving a 50-place penalty for power unit changes had come back to seventeenth position before the incident: "We had a solid first lap and gained some positions, so it is disappointing not to finish another race, we need to work thoroughly as a team to understand exactly what happened and make sure we learn from it" he added.

The crash is not an isolated case: Cadillac had already suffered a similar problem this season, when Sergio Pérez lost the front right suspension in Canada. The repetition of the failure has set off alarms in the team which now faces an internal investigation to determine the causes and prevent it from happening again. Marcin Budkowski team boss, was clear about it: "First of all, we are all relieved that Valtteri is okay after the incident on lap 46, we will thoroughly investigate the cause of this failure and make sure that accidents like this do not happen again, despite the limitations of our current package, we always aspire to solid operational execution and today we have fallen short. There is a lot to analyze and act on before another important race in Brazil" the Pole stated.

The investigation will be key to determining if there is a design or manufacturing problem in the Cadillac's suspension and if this could affect the team's cars in the last races of the season. Bottas for his part is already thinking about São Paulo, where he hopes to leave the scare behind and return to action, his future in Formula 1 remains uncertain but his health comes first.

Despite the crash, Bottas found time to congratulate Kimi Antonelli, his former Mercedes teammate, for the world title conquered in Mexico: "Congratulations Kimi and Mercedes, you managed to leave the world speechless with your performance and maturity this year, I am very proud of you" the Finn wrote on his social media, a gesture that reflects the good relationship between both drivers and Bottas's sportsmanship, even in a complicated moment.

The scare in Mexico is a reminder of the risks that this sport entails and of the importance of safety, Cadillac will have to act quickly to guarantee that its drivers can compete with guarantees in the last events of the championship.