FORMULA 1 F1 CALENDAR 2026 LEWIS HAMILTON MOTOGP RUMOURS

Sergio Perez left with 'the worst feeling' after Bottas collision at Chinese GP

Photo: Race Pictures

19:30, 17 Mar

byHenry Eccles

Sergio Perez has apologised to Cadillac and teammate Valtteri Bottas after the returning duo collided at the Chinese GP and left the Mexican with "the worst feeling."

Perez followed his teammate through the opening corners, but spun after making contact with Bottas when attempting to make a move round the outside.

Bottas, who also had Audi's Nico Hulkenberg for company on inside, was left with damage to his floor, but both Cadillacs managed to complete the race in Shanghai, with a P13 and P15 finish for Bottas and Perez respectively.

Cadillac collision 'fully on me,' admits Perez

Photo: Race Pictures

Despite regaining contact with the rest of the grid after his spin, thanks to a Safety Car on Lap 10, Perez was quick to take the blame for the incident.

“That was fully on me, I saw the gap and I went for it, Valtteri didn’t have anywhere to go.

"It was very optimistic, so full apologies on that one to Valtteri and the team. Unfortunately it ended up costing me the race, I spun, I lost a lot of track time."

Perez also revealed energy deployment issues during the race, adding that he lost up to 15 seconds on the straights.

"I came back and was back in the race and I was about to overtake Valtteri on the back straight and then I had deployment issues, losing about five seconds the first time and then the second time, another 15 seconds. So, a bit of tidy up to do in that regard.”

“So in general, I think the positive thing is that we finished with both cars. The negative is that, I think we have a lot of tuning to do, in a lot of areas, to make sure that we don’t lose track position, and we arrive to the races a lot more prepared.”

Reflecting further on the early incident with Bottas, the former Red Bull driver said: “I mean, that’s the worst feeling you can have, for myself, for the team.

“Luckily, nothing really happened, and the incident I think was just a misjudgement from my side.”

Bottas, on the other hand, did not seem too upset about the collision, instead focusing on the fact Cadillac were "already close to the points" in the second round of 2026.

The Finn said: “Yeah, I had a big piece missing from the floor on the left side, so that didn't help. I just felt the contact, I didn't really know he was there.

“But all good in the end. And yes, very, very happy to be 13th in our second Grand Prix for the team, getting already close to the points. Of course, there were many DNFs, but it's a good one for us.”

Dejected Lance Stroll says "pray for me" ahead of Japanese GP

Cadillac's main rival so far in 2026 has been the struggling Aston Martin, whose woes continued in Shanghai after Lance Stroll's spin brought out the Safety Car, and Fernando Alonso had to retire due to extreme vibrations in the AMR26.

When asked on his hopes for the next round in Japan. Stroll sounded particularly pessimistic, telling one reporter to "Pray for me," prior to the race.

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