2026 BELGIAN GRAND PRIX — QUALIFYING REPORT
July 18, 2026 — Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium — The Cadillac Formula 1® Team will start tomorrow’s Belgian Grand Prix with Valtteri Bottas and Checo Perez in 19th and 20th position respectively.*
Following a smooth final practice session the pair completed two Qualifying runs around the fast, flowing track, putting in strong laps to draw closer to the midfield.
Tomorrow’s race will get underway at 3.p.m local time.
*Provisional classification prior to application of penalties across the grid
Checo Perez:
Qualified: 20th
Q1: 1:47.971
“I was happy with my lap but unfortunately I had some issues with deployment since FP1 that we didn’t manage to fix before Qualifying. It proved to be quite costly as those tenths that we are missing on the straights could have moved us a few positions further up the grid. Getting to the flag tomorrow will be quite important for us and that’s our focus for now. We have to hope we get a good start and be in the mix - that will be the ultimate target for us.”
Valtteri Bottas:
Qualified: 19th
Q1: 1:47.823
“It’s been good to have a straightforward weekend with complete sessions, because every lap helps build confidence and improves our understanding of the car. I felt comfortable behind the wheel all weekend, and I think we got everything out of the package in qualifying today. We know there are still areas we need to improve, but we’re learning more every time we go out and that’s giving us more consistency. Tomorrow is about making the most of every opportunity and seeing what we can do over a race distance.”
Graeme Lowdon, Team Principal:
“We’ve worked well as a team this weekend and executed every session according to plan. Qualifying was incredibly tight today and we were less than three hundredths of a second from jumping another place. We will continue to work hard to keep making progress. Our goal for tomorrow will be to keep in that midfield and take advantage of any chances that come our way.”