2026 HUNGARIAN GRAND PRIX — QUALIFYING REPORT
July 25, 2026 — Hungaroring, Hungary — The Cadillac Formula 1® Team completed Qualifying today at the Hungarian Grand Prix, with Valtteri Bottas and Checo Perez starting 21st and 22nd, respectively, on the grid tomorrow.
Saturday proved challenging for the team, with Checo’s FP3 running cut short by an issue during his first run, limiting his preparation ahead of Qualifying. Valtteri completed the session as planned, before both drivers returned to the track for Qualifying later in the afternoon.
The team will now focus on final preparations for the Hungarian Grand Prix that gets underway tomorrow at 3 p.m. local time.
Checo Perez:
Qualified: 22nd Q1: 1:21.322
“It was a challenging session after missing most of FP3, and everything was quite rushed going into Qualifying. The car didn’t feel as expected, particularly in the high-speed sections, so we need to understand what was affecting us today. We know there is more performance in the car, and the focus now is on putting ourselves in a stronger position tomorrow.”
Valtteri Bottas:
Qualified: 21st Q1: 1:20.886
“A straightforward Qualifying for us with clean laps. We got into a decent window with the setup, and I felt good in the car. Aston Martin have taken a step forward with their car at least on one lap pace, but the positive thing is that we are pretty close to Williams. We have to focus on ourselves as we continue to improve and maximize our package. It’s going to be a test for us in the race with it set to be warmer. Let’s see how tomorrow pans out.”
Graeme Lowdon, Team Principal:
“We started today with Checo having limited running in the final Free Practice session due to an issue that the team identified and rectified ahead of Qualifying. We showed that we are closer to Wiliams with Valtteri being two tenths off in Q1. However, we’ve seen that Aston Martin has made a step with their upgrades this race weekend and they are ahead of us, but they were ahead of us in Melbourne, so we will just continue our focus on trying to constantly improve. Looking ahead to tomorrow, we’ll try to make the most out of any opportunities that may come our way, especially with the characteristics of this circuit”.