BOTTAS BLAMES STRANGE SYSTEM ISSUE FOR LAST-LAP BAKU CRASH
Valtteri Bottas has explained that a strange problem with the systems on his Cadillac caused his crash at Turn 15 on the final lap of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. The Finnish driver had already gone wide at Turn 1 earlier in the lap, and believes the extra distance he travelled caused the car’s systems to become confused.
Bottas said that after the mistake at Turn 1, he suffered what he described as a huge “super-clip” at Turn 15. When he hit the brakes, he felt that only the front brakes were working. He also noticed that the rear brakes were no longer recovering energy normally, leaving him without the rear braking performance he expected.
“I think the systems got somewhat confused because of the extra distance I’d driven,” Bottas explained after the race. He added that it felt as if he had lost the rear brakes because the car was no longer harvesting energy from the rear system in the same way.
The problem came at one of the most difficult parts of the Baku City Circuit. Turn 15 is a slow left-hand corner at the end of a long section of the track, meaning drivers need stable braking and a predictable car to make the corner safely. Bottas was unable to slow the Cadillac as expected and went into the barriers.
Cadillac confirmed that the incident was caused by a technical issue and said it would investigate the car to understand exactly what happened. Team Principal Marcin Budkowski also described the problem as something the team needed to analyse before the next race in Malaysia.
The crash was particularly unfortunate because it happened very late in the race. Bottas had completed almost the entire 51-lap Azerbaijan Grand Prix before his Cadillac ended up in the barriers. He was classified 16th, two laps behind the winner, while teammate Sergio Perez finished 15th.
The incident also had an effect on the battle for victory. Double yellow flags were shown around Turn 15, forcing George Russell and Max Verstappen to slow as they approached the crash site. Russell then had to manage the final part of the lap before crossing the finish line just 0.196 seconds ahead of Verstappen.
The FIA decided not to deploy a Safety Car or Virtual Safety Car after Bottas’ crash. The race director considered the incident manageable with double yellow flags because Turn 15 is a slow corner and drivers could avoid the damaged car.
Bottas’ Baku weekend had already been difficult before the late crash. He struggled for pace compared with Perez throughout the weekend and was more than 1.6 seconds slower than his teammate in qualifying, although his best qualifying lap was also affected by a yellow flag.
Perez eventually finished 15th and said he had extracted as much as possible from the Cadillac, while Bottas admitted that the team still had a lot to analyse after a difficult race. Cadillac is still searching for its first Formula 1 points in its debut season and will now have to investigate the technical problem before the Malaysian Grand Prix.
The investigation will be important because Bottas’ explanation suggests the issue was connected to how the car’s energy recovery and braking systems reacted after his off-track excursion at Turn 1. Cadillac will now need to establish the exact cause and make sure the problem cannot happen again when the championship moves to Malaysia.
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