Valtteri Bottas never took the green flag at Sunday’s Sao Paulo Grand Prix, a frustrating new setback for the Fishers-based Cadillac Formula 1 team. It came in the same week as reports that the team’s majority owner may be looking to sell.
Bottas qualified 18th and was set to start 17th at Interlagos. Before the lap to the grid, the crew tried to change a tire but could not get the right rear wheel nut off. Team officials later said the nut was cross-threaded. Crew members went at it with a hammer on the grid, but the car was pushed back to the garage and Bottas was out.
“It’s sad that we were unable to start the race today,” Bottas said.
Teammate Sergio Perez started last, in 22nd, after a 30-place grid penalty for exceeding his quota of power unit parts. He started on intermediate tires in wet conditions, switched to slicks as the track dried, and went back to intermediates when rain returned with fewer than 10 laps left. He finished 18th, two laps down, after a slow pit stop that he said was a repeat of a problem in Mexico.
“We need to make sure we fix our tools and get everything right,” Perez said.
Team principal Marcin Budkowski called it “a challenging day.” Budkowski took over in August when Graeme Lowdon was removed as team principal.
Cadillac is still without a point in its first F1 season and sits 11th, last, in the constructors’ standings. Reliability has been a theme all year. The team had nine retirements in the first 11 rounds, five of them Bottas’. The Finn also walked away from a heavy crash in Mexico two weeks ago.
The trouble on the track comes as the team’s ownership faces new questions. Sportico reported Nov. 2 that TWG Global, the company of billionaire Mark Walter, is seeking at least $3 billion for its controlling stake. Sportico counted at least seven possible buyers. The Guardian and The Wall Street Journal have named Fenway Sports Group, owner of the Boston Red Sox and Liverpool FC, as one of them.
That would reverse TWG’s position from August. Then, amid reports of a federal probe involving Walter’s financial empire, the company said it was not considering a sale of the Cadillac team. TWG has since said a sale is not imminent. FSG declined to comment.
General Motors holds an undisclosed minority stake. It supplies staff and infrastructure and is developing the team’s future power units. Perez, who is signed through 2029, said GM’s involvement gives him confidence and he does not expect day-to-day operations to change.
For Fishers, the stakes are local. The team’s headquarters is a $200 million, 400,000-square-foot building near Indianapolis Metropolitan Airport. The team has said it expects about 300 people to work there, assembling the cars. None of the reports so far suggest the Fishers base would change under a new owner.
Cadillac’s next race is in Las Vegas in two weeks, the team’s third home race this season.