The opinion that made noise in F1
Mario Andretti does not bite his tongue. The world champion, whose name the Cadillac car bears, has just made a comment that everyone is discussing in the paddocks. He referred to the pair of drivers that the American team chose for its great return.
The verdict? Hard, but clear.
“To be honest, I think they’re both a little rusty. They’ve both been out of the car for at least a season. With the new package and everything else, they’re being very careful,” Andretti said on the Drive to Wynn podcast.
He talks about Sergio ‘Checo’ Pérez and Valtteri Bottas. The two spent 2025 without competing, and now carry the enormous responsibility of developing a new car from scratch. It is not an easy task.
The problems are not just for the pilots
The season started and Cadillac still has no points. They have had two careers with mechanical failures and technicians scratching their heads. But, be careful, Andretti asks for calm.
He explains that almost all the teams – except perhaps Mercedes and Ferrari – are in the same struggle to understand this new stage of F1.
“We are not the only ones who have this problem… It will be interesting to see the evolution of the season, to see who really manages to master all of this,” added the team ambassador.
The key here is patience. A project is being built from the ground up, in a category that has completely reinvented itself. Errors were expected.
Now it’s time to see how Pérez and Bottas react. They have the talent, but they need time to shake off the rust and get in sync with a car that is also learning to race. The real test begins now.
