New Cadillac driver Valtteri Bottas hinted that issues struck all groups throughout the opening day of testing for the 2026 Components 1 season – claiming the aim of operating is to ‘debug’ the 2026 automobiles.
Monday kickstarted a five-day shakedown at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, however little is thought concerning the motion because of it being behind closed doorways with no launch of lap instances and native safety even turning away those that attempt to strategy the venue.
This comes on account of the forthcoming regulation modifications, the place a automobile’s chassis turns into lighter and smaller with extra emphasis on electrical energy. The result’s that every little thing guarantees to look vastly totally different in 2026.
The quantity of groups within the championship can even change, as Cadillac joins because the eleventh squad and can make its debut with a veteran driver pairing of Bottas and Sergio Perez.
When requested to sum up the opening day of operating in Barcelona, Bottas advised F1 TV: “It was chilly. Early morning, it is fairly exhausting to get the tyres to work right here, as we all know, however because the temperature picked up, issues bought a bit higher, however we had some points all through the day.
“It is debugging, that is why we’re right here and it looks as if each group had some points. It is simply now actually determining these after which getting increasingly more operating every day, nevertheless it’s simply nice to be right here and within the automobile.”
Valtteri Bottas, Cadillac
Photograph by: Cadillac Communications
The ten-time grand prix winner, who has beforehand raced for Williams, Mercedes and Sauber, is just not anxious by the problems that will come up, as the aim of the take a look at isn’t to essentially declare the quickest lap.
As a substitute it’s to grasp extra concerning the new laws, particularly at Cadillac the place every little thing is new forward of the season-opening Australian Grand Prix on 6-8 March.
“It is positively a giant distinction to earlier than,” stated 36-year-old Bottas. “The automobiles, they deal with totally different, you might have a bit much less load, particularly within the high-speed corners.
“The PU, you might have a lot extra torque out of the corners, however then you might have the battery to handle and once more, for Ferrari [Cadillac’s engine supplier], that is the primary correct day of operating with their energy models, so naturally there’s a studying curve.
“So, nonetheless tons to study, tons to enhance, nevertheless it’s fairly a problem for each group and precedence record now could be get extra laps every day.
“I feel I bought a bit greater than 30 laps in the present day, a few of them simply sort of installs and stuff, however we have to get some correct operating in, get the mileage in, and ensure we get a dependable package deal for race one.”
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