Bottas fears Italian GP DNF over recurring Cadillac problem: 'It's the biggest concern'
Photo: Race Pictures
07:01, 06 Sep
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Henry Eccles is a freelance Formula 1 journalist for GPblog, covering breaking news, live race blogs, and features across the F1 calendar. Since joining in 2026, he has produced high-volume reporting on the sport’s biggest stories, alongside feature pieces including analysis and historical content.
Valtteri Bottas has voiced his concerns over whether Cadillac will be able to finish the Italian GP, pointing to brake temperature issues that have hit F1's newest team on multiple occasions in 2026.
Cadillac, set to line up P16 and P17 following grid penalties to Kimi Antonelli, Liam Lawson and Alex Albon, have already suffered three DNFs relating to brake temperature this season - with the FIA having declared a heat hazard coming into the Italian GP weekend.
In Austria, both Bottas and Sergio Perez had been forced into retirement by Lap 4, while the former has gone on to suffer further issues in Monaco, and most recently the Hungarian GP, prior to F1's summer break.
Bottas' Hungary GP came to a particularly worrying end, with the Finn actually having to use the pit lane to slow down after losing his brakes on Lap 15.
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Bottas on brake fears: The first 10 laps are critical
Photo: Race Pictures
The Cadillac driver was pleased to out-qualify Aston Martin duo Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll at Monza, but could not hide his concerns over track temperatures, raising the possibility of a DNF.
Qualifying in P16, ahead of his teammate Perez, Bottas told GPblog and others: "Obviously we try to hang on as long as we can, but it was actually positive surprise to see how much quicker we were than Aston.
"We thought it's gonna be close with them, but actually we had a bit of a margin. Biggest concern tomorrow is probably the heat, reliability. So, would be really important to try and try and finish the race."
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Having said on Thursday that Cadillac had brought more robust brake materials to the Italian GP, Bottas explained that there has not been a change to his feeling in the MAC-26, before highlighting the first 10 laps of Sunday's race as the most vital.
"No, the feel is the same," Bottas said. "Nothing has changed on that. The feeling actually all year has been good with the brakes. It's just that we've been quite fragile in the hot conditions.
"I would say the first ten laps is probably the most critical tomorrow when there's many cars ahead of us in traffic. So, hopefully we can survive the first bit and then it should be okay."
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Italian Grand Prix
Overview
Friday 04.09.26
Practice 1
10:30 AM
Practice 2
02:00 PM
Saturday 05.09.26
Practice 3
10:30 AM
Qualification
02:00 PM
Sunday 06.09.26
Race
01:00 PM
Friday 04.09.26
Practice 1
Fri 10:30 AM
Practice 2
Fri 02:00 PM
Saturday 05.09.26
Practice 3
Sat 10:30 AM
Qualification
Sat 02:00 PM
Sunday 06.09.26
Race
Sun 01:00 PM
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