2026 JAPANESE GRAND PRIX – RACE REPORT
March 29, 2026 — Suzuka Circuit, Japan — The Cadillac Formula 1® Team continued its strong 2026 progress in today’s Japanese Grand Prix, with a double car finish for the second consecutive race. Checo Perez passed the flag 17th and Valtteri Bottas 19th, with Checo finishing on the lead lap for the first time this season.
With Valtteri finishing his second race, and Checo passing the checkered flag in every race in 2026, including the Sprint in China, the American squad has collected significant mileage and information to continue its momentum at the next Grand Prix in Miami.
RESULTS
Checo Perez: Started: P19 Finished: P17 Fastest Lap: 1:35.637
“Today was our strongest race so far this year. We’ve made a lot of progress in a short space of time and we can be happy to get two cars past the finish yet again. Yesterday we had some issues with the deployment and today it felt like we were on top of it. We were clearly faster than Aston Martin and we can see our pace is getting stronger. Hopefully the upgrades we bring to Miami will put us into the mix a lot more.”
Valtteri Bottas: Started: P20, Finished: P19 Fastest Lap: 1:36.269
“Another double finish is really good for the team. I was lacking a bit of performance which meant I struggled to challenge the Aston Martins today, so it’s something we need to look at. We tried a different strategy by starting with the Hard tire but unfortunately it didn’t seem to work. However, throughout the whole weekend it was much cleaner with fewer issues. We’ve learned a lot that we can use to improve for the next race. We now head into this gap in the calendar after our first three races with the opportunity to analyze everything learned so far and spend more time developing the car. The mood is good in the team as we fully focus on preparations for our first home Grand Prix in Miami.”
Graeme Lowdon, Team Principal:
“Today’s result has capped off another strong weekend for us. Just three races into our debut season we can be very proud to have achieved another two-car finish, with one car on the lead lap. Sadly for Valtteri, he wasn’t waved past the safety car with time to regain his place on track, which destroyed his race. I’m particularly pleased to see another significant step forward by the whole team in terms of execution and reliability. We have an upgrade package coming for Miami and I’m excited to see what that can deliver — thank you to all the teams in Indianapolis, Charlotte, Silverstone and Germany for their continued hard work. Finally, I was very relieved to see that Ollie Bearman was OK after his big impact.”