Cadillac may not have a point on the board yet this season, but they have steadily been making progress every weekend, with Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas hopeful that they can eventually capitalise on an opportunity to break into the top 10.
Building a team from scratch was never going to be a straightforward task, making it all the more important for Perez and Bottas to use their years of experience to gradually help Cadillac progress up the order.
They unexpectedly came close to scoring for the first time at the Monaco Grand Prix, where the Mexican initially took P10 before being penalised after the race, instead handing the single point to their nearest rivals at Aston Martin.
Speaking ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix, Perez said: “We got [a point] in Monaco but unfortunately [it was] taken from us. I think if we get to see another chaotic race, there will be some more opportunities.
“At the moment, the gap is too big to make it up. I believe that after summer, if we are able to find half a second to eight tenths, it’s going to be there. It’s all we need to be in contention.
“Whenever there are problems, we can be there. I wouldn’t discount it. I still think that some tracks coming up will potentially give us a chance.”
He also reflected on what he was proudest of from the first half of Cadillac’s debut season, explaining: “I think the progress we’ve made – where we started, where we are, and the foundations that we are putting in place.
“I think Cadillac have shown they’ve come seriously into the sport and that’s something that makes me feel proud to share this journey with them.”
For Bottas, points are still a distant ambition, with the Finn suffering retirements in Australia, Monaco, Barcelona-Catalunya and Austria as a result of mechanical issues and frustratingly poor reliability.
With Perez enduring three DNFs of his own, Cadillac have only finished four races with both cars, leaving Bottas eager to focus on the small improvements they can make rather than the bigger goal of scoring.
“I’m not looking at the points situation,” he said. “Of course we want to score but for that we would either need to make a big step or get lucky at the moment.
“I knew what I signed up for, I knew that was most likely going to be the case and that is the case. Just going to keep the head down, keep working and hope for the future that it will come.
“On a single lap, we seem a bit more competitive than in the race runs but we are seeing the progress, we are seeing the gap to Aston Martin is increasing which is a good benchmark because they haven’t really developed their car until this race. But we’ve definitely been able to see the progress.”
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