2026 HUNGARIAN GRAND PRIX — RACE REPORT
July 26, 2026 — Hungaroring, Hungary — Cadillac Formula 1® Team’s Hungarian Grand Prix came to an early end, with both Valtteri Bottas and Checo Perez retiring from the race.
Valtteri lined up P21 on the grid, while Checo started from the pit lane following a number of changes made to his car ahead of the Grand Prix. Despite encouraging signs of progress throughout the weekend, neither driver was able to reach the checkered flag.
The team will now head into the summer break with a clear focus on understanding the issues encountered in Budapest and building on the progress made during the first half of the season.
Formula 1 returns August 23rd for the Dutch Grand Prix at Circuit Zandvoort where the team will look to come back stronger and start the second half of the season on a positive note.
Checo Perez:
Started: Pit Lane, Finished: DNF
“It was a challenging race. In the first stint I was struggling a lot with the balance and sliding around, but I was able to adapt my driving, and the second stint was much stronger. I still felt there was something not quite right with the car, so it’s important that we understand exactly what was happening. As a new team, we expect to face some challenges, but it’s frustrating that we’ve had a few issues recently. We’ll use next week before the shutdown period to work hard across all areas and make sure we come back stronger for the second half of the season.”
Valtteri Bottas:
Started: P21, Finished: DNF
“Unfortunately, my race came to end due to the brakes overheating. It’s a shame as we had upgrades to address the brake cooling, but it wasn’t enough due to the extreme conditions and the nature of this circuit. It’s another learning for us as a team and we’ll be using the week before the summer break to try to get on top of the issue, so it doesn’t happen again. There are still positives to take away from the weekend as we’ve been closer to Williams than before. It’s been a challenging start to the season as expected being a new team, but we have many moments to be proud of and more to look forward to in the second half of the year.”
Graeme Lowdon, Team Principal:
“Clearly, a double retirement is not the way we wanted to finish the first half of the season, but building something new is not without its challenges. We need to understand exactly what happened today and make sure we address the issues we have experienced. There has been great progress in many areas and the commitment and hard work across the entire team remains incredibly strong. As a team, we have achieved a lot in the first half of our debut season but of course we always want more, and I have every confidence that we will come back stronger and ready to push again in Zandvoort.”