Degree of challenge facing Cadillac clear from shakedown, Bottas says

Valtteri Bottas says the main lessons from the Barcelona shakedown include seeing the size of the mountain Cadillac has to climb to be competitive in Formula 1.

Cadillac completed an initial run of its first F1 car at Silverstone prior to the week of running in Spain, but then ended the week in Spain with just 164 laps in total. The mileage played a role in Cadillac also ending up at the bottom of the timing screens in terms of fastest laps, but Bottas says the progress he has seen each time the car has hit the track has been encouraging.

“I think the biggest takeaway is that, first of all, I'm proud of everyone working so hard and being here with the car, but also the first takeaway is that we still have a long way to go,” Bottas said. “We still have lots of problems to solve and a bit of a mountain to climb, but we are getting there, step by step. Each run we're getting better and more together as a team, each run we are solving issues and going forward, so that's good.”

Bottas carried out all of the driving duties on the final day in Barcelona, after Sergio Perez was in the car on Thursday, and he says the two experienced drivers will be hard at work over the coming 12 days before testing in Bahrain.

“It's been great – he’s a really easy guy to work with, super chill and also with lots of experience. So I think we make a really good team – we can work well together for the team and he's been excited as well being in the car this week. We both can't wait for Bahrain.

“It's going to be busy between here and Bahrain for the whole team and I'm going actually pretty much straight from here to the simulator in the U.S., to try to do some correlation work, try to prepare for Bahrain.

"As a team we have now lots of data, finally, of the new car, so we have lots of analysis to do, maybe even build some new parts before Bahrain. So it's going to be hectic, but we're going to be ready for Bahrain.”