Valtteri Bottas puts a figure on Cadillac’s major Austria upgrade

Valtteri Bottas believes Cadillac’s revised floor and bodywork could be worth a few tenths of a second around the Red Bull Ring, but he stressed that it is in theory.

Cadillac confirmed it would introduce a substantial upgrade package at the Austrian Grand Prix as the team chases its first world championship point in its debut campaign.

Valtteri Bottas outlines expected Cadillac Austria upgrade benefit

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The revisions include a new floor and bodywork, with team principal Graeme Lowdon hoping it will continue the team’s “trajectory of steadily catching up to the midfield”.

To date, Cadillac’s best result in a Grand Prix was Bottas’ P13 at the Chinese Grand Prix, which has left Cadillac at the bottom of the constructors’ championship after Aston Martin scored a point in Monaco.

Bottas reckons the team’s Austrian Grand Prix upgrades could be worth a few tenths per lap.

“In theory, it’s a good step forward,” he replied to a question posed by PlanetF1.com’s Thomas Maher.

“I think we’re talking a region of 10 points of downforce, which is a decent step.

“That, combined with the reliability updates for the cooling, yeah, hopefully we can be a bit closer again.”

Asked the time estimate, he replied: “A few tenths I think, in theory.

“So, but yeah, again we’ve got to see.

“We’re going to do some aero runs in the beginning of FP1 to see what is the actual effect compared to the past. Then we see it.

“But hopefully it works as it should.”

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The new floor has been welcomed by the 10-time Grand Prix winner who confirmed floor issues put him on the back foot at the Barcelona race. Although he had a good start to the weekend, an issue with the floor that Cadillac bolted onto his car on the Saturday cost him lap time.

It was a disappointing outcome for Bottas, and not the first time Cadillac’s quality controll has been questioned.

The Finn, though, says the team is getting better.

“It just felt like the car actually worked as it should, aero-wise and mechanically, we got the setup right, and everything,” he said. “I probably had the best confidence I had with the car so far.

“It kind of went downhill from there after we had to change the floor after the issue I had in FP3, and we knew that that floor was underperforming, which we had to revert.

“Here it’s an upgrade anyway. Both cars have different diffusers to Barcelona. So yeah, more confident coming here that we should be more aligned. I think our quality is getting better.”

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

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