2026 BELGIAN GRAND PRIX — RACE REPORT
July 19, 2026 — Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium — The Cadillac Formula 1® Team has finished a chaotic Belgian Grand Prix with Valtteri Bottas in 18th position. In a race marked by safety cars, Valtteri steered the MAC-26 cleanly past the flag to claim a further finish for the American squad.
Checo Perez retired on lap 13 following a mechanical issue on his rear suspension. He had graduated through the field and was closer to Esteban Ocon of Haas until a rear suspension issue curtailed his race.
The team will now regroup before the Hungarian Grand Prix in one week.
Checo Perez:
Started: 18, Finished: DNF
“It was an unfortunate end to the race. I had a rear inboard suspension failure and we had to retire the car. We are still investigating the reasons why. It was a tricky weekend as we struggled a lot with straightline speed – even in the race I was missing a couple of tenths and we couldn’t fight for longer with the Haas of Esteban [Ocon], but hopefully we are able to sort it out for Hungary. I’m looking forward to it, coming back stronger there.”
Valtteri Bottas:
Started: 17, Finished: 18
“It was another challenging race for us, but we managed to finish with one car, which gives us valuable data to learn from. We still have work to do, particularly on reliability and tire degradation, but everyone in the team is giving everything to improve. We just need to keep pushing, because when the results eventually come, they’ll be even more rewarding. Hopefully Hungary will suit us a bit better, and if we can put everything together in qualifying, you never know what might be possible.”
Graeme Lowdon, Team Principal:
“Valtteri put in a strong performance to record another finish today, again comfortably ahead of the Astons. It is disappointing not to finish with both cars and we will look at the reasons for Checo’s retirement to get back to the reliability we saw earlier in the year. Budapest is a very different track to the fast, flowing Spa but we know that, as a team, we have the strength and resilience to take on the challenge.”