Cadillac’s Japanese GP upgrades deliver encouraging step forward

Cadillac edges forward with Suzuka upgrade package

Cadillac may still be operating at the rear of the Formula 1 field, but its latest upgrade package at the Japanese Grand Prix has delivered a measure of encouragement.

Suzuka, however, offered a different tone.

Bottas: “The direction is right”

Bottas finished 20th in FP1 and 18th in FP2, 2.824s and 2.482s off the pace respectively. On paper, the margins remain significant — but the Finn pointed to a reduced gap to the cars ahead.

“Yes. It seems like we've closed the gap a bit to, I think, pretty much all the cars ahead. The gap is a bit smaller than before.”

Crucially, Friday marked the first uninterrupted day of running on his side of the garage.

“Today, actually, on my side of the garage, for the first time in a race weekend, it was a day that there was not a single issue. We could just completely focus on performance, on the set-up work, and not fixing issues."

“That was good. I think both one-lap pace, race pace, we are still a bit off from Williams, but seem to be ahead of Aston. I feel we've gained a bit of load, a bit of stability. We're still lacking a lot compared to the top teams, but at least the direction is right."

“Now we know, again, where we need to keep focusing on. But yeah, everything works like I expected with the new bits.”

The emphasis was less on outright lap time and more on stability and predictability — foundational traits for a team still building its performance base.

Focus on rear load and balance

Cadillac engineering consultant Pat Symonds reinforced that the upgrade philosophy is straightforward: add aerodynamic load, particularly at the rear.

“Like most people, we want to make sure that the load on the rear is consistent. So that’s really what a lot of these things are aimed at."

“We haven’t done a full analysis of everything yet, but the drivers certainly seem to think that the car is quite nicely balanced. So we had a nice balance between high speed and low speed and we had a nice balance between low fuel and high fuel."

“So when you’ve got that, that’s quite a positive thing going forward. So now if we can just get some more load on the car, I think we can start getting into that midfield a bit.”

The message is clear: balance first, load next. Only once the car behaves consistently across conditions can the team realistically target the midfield.

Mixed fortunes across the garage

While Bottas enjoyed a clean day, Perez’s Friday was more complicated.

The Mexican collided with Alex Albon at the chicane in FP1 after the Williams driver lunged down the inside. Perez finished that session 19th, 0.269s ahead of Bottas, before ending the second session 20th — 3.556s off pace-setter Oscar Piastri.

For Cadillac, the headline from Suzuka is not a dramatic leap up the order. Instead, it is something more fundamental: a car that behaved as expected and upgrades that delivered what they promised.

The gap remains large, but for the sport’s newest entrant, a stable platform and a clearer development direction may prove just as valuable as headline lap times at this stage of its Formula 1 journey.