Sergio Perez says Cadillac must investigate the front-right suspension collapse that forced him to retire during the Canadian Grand Prix, and he also pressed the team on urgent operational problems that have left it short on results. While Perez points to a wr
Sergio Perez knew something was wrong before he even reached the pit lane.
On lap 39 of the Canadian Grand Prix at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. the veteran Mexican driver had just exited the back straight and was heading for entry when the front-right suspension collapsed. He limped back to his team’s garage, and the damage turned a race moment into an early end—retirement.
Afterward. Perez said he wants Cadillac to investigate what caused the suspension failure. arguing there must be a root cause the team can uncover. “It’s something we need to investigate. understand. and hopefully get on top of. because it’s not ideal what happened. ” he told the media. including RacingNews365.
Cadillac’s first race was also a reminder of how much the team still has to learn in real time. Montreal was its fifth grand prix, yet Perez described himself as “impatient” with the operation and said the team is not progressing fast enough in terms of performance.
In the paddock conversation, he linked the weekend’s struggles to broader execution: “Operationally, we are still lacking a lot, and we are not making progress in terms of performance, so we need to maximise the car performance at the moment.”
He added that the clock is already ticking toward the European season. “It’s something that we have to improve, and we are in a massive hurry, because we are not maximising the results,” Perez said.
He also pointed out that the problems were not limited to Sunday. Qualifying on Saturday had shown similar gaps, even as he credited some signs of forward motion on pace. “We are making progress on performance, which is very positive. But on the operational side. it’s something that we are lacking tremendously. and we have to really find our way for the European season now.”.
The Canadian Grand Prix itself offered another complication: tyre strategy under shifting conditions. Perez was one of seven drivers who started on intermediate tyres. alongside Valtteri Bottas. Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri of McLaren. Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto. and Williams’ Carlos Sainz.
Perez’s start-on-intermediates plan turned sour when the race conditions became clearer. Only Sainz managed to salvage something by finishing ninth.
Perez explained the decision as close from the outset. “The laps to the grid, it felt like it was 50-50. It was really hard to choose a tyre.”
He said the gamble made more sense at the time because the race got going with many aborts, then the rain began to ease. “And then when we went into the race with so many aborts, the rain calmed down quite a bit, and it was a lot clearer for the slick tyre.”
“We took the gamble,” Perez said. He added that it became obvious they were on the wrong tyre quickly. “I felt like it had stopped raining a little bit less. but it became a lot clearer that we were on the wrong tyre very early on. Within three laps, we killed the inter, and that was the biggest issue.”.
Even with that, Perez said the race still produced moments they could build on. “But we managed to recover. We had some good pace out there, some good fights with the Haas. We overtook the Haas, and then unfortunately, we had the suspension failure at the end.”
The sequence of Perez’s weekend now leaves two clear tasks for Cadillac: tighten the operational side that he says is falling behind, and trace the suspension failure that ended his race with a dramatic collapse at speed.
Sergio Perez Cadillac suspension failure Canadian Grand Prix Circuit Gilles Villeneuve intermediates tyre strategy Valtteri Bottas Lando Norris Oscar Piastri Nico Hulkenberg Gabriel Bortoleto Carlos Sainz
Suspension just randomly falls off? Sounds like bad QC to me.
I feel bad for him, but isn’t it supposed to be all fixed by now? Like they’ve raced there a bunch. Also “operational problems” is such a vague phrase lol.
Wait so he “knew something was wrong before pit lane” but still went out?? If the suspension was already compromised shouldn’t they have pulled him earlier. Or maybe it was tire pressure or brake failure and they’re blaming suspension.
Cadillac needs to investigate everything, like full overhaul. Montreal being the 5th GP and he’s “impatient” is not a good look. I don’t even follow F1 that hard but this just screams they’re behind on setup and then acting surprised. Also clock ticking to Europe season like they didn’t already have deadlines… qualifying had similar gaps too so it’s not just one bad day.