2026 CHINESE GRAND PRIX – SPRINT QUALIFYING REPORT
March 13, 2026 — Shanghai International Circuit, China —The Cadillac Formula 1® Team will start the Sprint Race in China with Valtteri Bottas in 21st position and Checo Perez in 22nd position. Valtteri completed eight laps in the first Sprint Qualifying session of the season, while Checo did not participate because of a fuel system issue detected in the earlier practice session.
The 19-lap race – the first Sprint for the Cadillac Formula 1® Team – will take place at 11 a.m. local time on Saturday, March 14. The team will then prepare for Chinese Grand Prix Qualifying, to take place at 3 p.m. the same day.
RESULTS
Checo Perez:
Sprint Qualifying Position: 22nd
“It’s a shame that we couldn’t participate in Sprint Quali. We struggled with a fuel system issue in the morning and then unfortunately we couldn’t fix it in time for this afternoon. The team is working really hard at the track and back at the factory to find a solution so we can get ready for our first Sprint tomorrow.”
Valtteri Bottas:
Sprint Qualifying Position: 21st
“We had a deployment issue which impacted my laps and meant we couldn’t get the most out of the session. We need to investigate fully now. Otherwise, it’s quite difficult to say where we would have ended up. We’ll try to address everything as a team ahead of the Sprint Race.”
Nick Chester, Chief Technical Officer:
"A difficult day today, but at this early stage in our journey we are still finding issues and fixing them in real time. We detected a problem with the fuel system on Checo’s car in practice and could not rectify before Sprint Qualifying. We had a slightly smoother day on Valtteri’s side of the garage, but a significant deployment issue meant that we were unable to set representative times. All the same, every lap we do gives us more valuable information that lets us move forward.”