2026 BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX IN MALAYSIA — QUALIFYING REPORT
October 3, 2026 — Sepang International Circuit, Malaysia — The Cadillac Formula 1® Team completed qualifying today at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, with Valtteri Bottas and Checo Pérez starting P21 and P22, respectively.
Following a grid penalty for Racing Bull's Arvid Lindblad and Alpine’s Franco Colapinto, both drivers will advance two starting positions each as they line up for the 56-lap race. The high-speed nature of the Sepang International Circuit tested the team, while track temperatures surpassing 136°F (58°C) created an additional hurdle for tire management during this afternoon's qualifying session. The team will now switch its focus to final preparations for the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia that will begin tomorrow at 3 p.m. local time.
Checo Pérez: Qualified: P22 Q1: 1:38.933
“I’m looking forward to the challenge, although we knew coming here that this would be a difficult circuit for us and that we would struggle for pace.
“That’s also why we felt it was better to save the new engine for another race where we can potentially benefit more from it. The focus now is on tomorrow. It will be a demanding race, particularly managing the tires and limiting the sliding while maintaining good pace. Degradation looked quite low today, but conditions will be different tomorrow, so it will be interesting to see how the race develops.”
Valtteri Bottas: Qualified: P21 Q1: 1:38.611
“It's been a smooth weekend for us so far. Obviously if you look at the result, we're at the back which is not great, but it feels like we've been able to maximize everything this weekend. It's been smooth sailing and we’ve not faced any issues so far, so we’re clearly making progress with each weekend that comes. Yesterday in the long runs we were pretty much on par with the Williams, so hopefully that's the case tomorrow and we can have a bit of a race with them.”
Marcin Budkowski, Team Principal
“We came to Sepang knowing it would be a challenging weekend for us compared to the steps forward we made in Baku. High temperatures and heavy tire degradation on a rough track surface have confirmed that, but overall we are lacking in pace on this high-speed track. Both drivers have worked hard on setup and balance across the sessions so far and are feeling more comfortable in the car. We look forward to tomorrow’s race, which has historically been a tough race of attrition. We will see what tomorrow brings - uncertain weather conditions as well as the challenge of preserving tires could present opportunities for us.”