Cadillac brings new sidepods, floor to Austrian Grand Prix push
NXTbets Pro | Published On: June 23, 2026
Cadillac upgrade push
Cadillac is bringing a substantial upgrade package to the Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring as it keeps working to close the gap to the midfield in its first Formula 1 season. The latest package is led by new sidepods and a revised floor, with other bodywork changes also included. The team wants the update to move it closer to its first points and give it another clear step in performance after a steady run of development through the opening part of the year.
The scale of the push shows how hard Cadillac is leaning into the car’s evolution while the season gathers pace. The team has already introduced rear-wing and exhaust changes in Monaco, then followed with additional rear-wing and cooling updates in Barcelona. That steady stream of parts has helped Cadillac trim its qualifying deficit from 4.1 seconds off pole at the start of the year to 2.9 seconds in Barcelona. At the same time, the team cut its gap to Aston Martin to about one second there, with Sergio Perez qualifying ahead of both Aston Martins. Those gains have given Cadillac a clearer picture of where it stands and where the next update needs to land.
Team principal Graeme Lowdown said the back-to-back race schedule and the packed calendar have created logistical challenges for development, but he said the latest package should help Cadillac keep closing in on the midfield and sustain its progress. The timing matters too. The Austrian Grand Prix opens a run of four races in five weekends before the summer shutdown, so the team will have little time to pause between races. That makes every upgrade cycle more demanding, but it also gives Cadillac a chance to gather quick feedback and build on each small gain.
Perez backs update
Perez called the incoming package a “good, big” update and said the factory has been working “flat out” on development. He said Cadillac is still pushing hard to improve performance and expects the new parts to deliver another step forward after the lessons learned from Monaco and Barcelona. That fits the pattern the team has built so far. It has kept adding parts, kept testing ideas and kept narrowing the margin to the cars ahead. For a new team, that kind of incremental progress matters as much as any single upgrade.
Perez’s recent results give the new parts a clear benchmark. He briefly reached the top 10 in qualifying at Monaco before a start infringement penalty dropped him to 15th. He then finished 14th at the Barcelona Grand Prix. The Barcelona weekend also showed how much ground the team has already made up, with Perez putting the car ahead of both Aston Martins in qualifying. Cadillac still has work to do, but the comparison with a midfield target is no longer as distant as it was at the start of the season.
The next package will need to deliver cleaner pace across a full weekend. Cadillac has found flashes in qualifying and shown stronger numbers in direct comparison with familiar midfield rivals. The challenge now is turning that into a result on Sunday. Perez’s comments point in that direction. He wants the upgrade to add speed and help the team keep building on the progress it has already made. With the calendar tightening, the Red Bull Ring offers another immediate test of whether the new sidepods and floor can move the car forward again.
Bottas reliability focus
Valtteri Bottas said new parts are on the way, but he made clear that reliability remains the team’s most urgent concern after back-to-back DNFs. His recent run has been hit by mechanical issues, including brake problems in Barcelona and a retirement caused by overheating. For Cadillac, that means the upgrade plan has to do two jobs at once. It has to improve performance and it has to hold together long enough to let the team judge what the car can really do.
Bottas said he is encouraged by the team’s weekly progress and remains optimistic about racing at a track where he has strong history. He won at the Red Bull Ring in 2017 and 2020, and he took his first Formula 1 podium and first front-row start there in 2014. That record gives him a clear reference point, and the venue offers a chance to measure how far the new Cadillac has come since the early races of the season. The focus, though, stays on execution. Bottas wants cleaner weekends, fewer interruptions and more mileage on the latest package.
Cadillac’s push into Austria comes with momentum and pressure at the same time. The team has improved its pace, closed part of the gap to the midfield and shown enough in qualifying to suggest more is available. It has also dealt with setbacks that have kept it from turning that progress into points. The new sidepods and revised floor are the next step in that process. If they bring the expected gain, Cadillac can keep pressing forward in a stretch of races that will shape the middle part of its debut campaign.
