What caused Valtteri Bottas to lag significantly behind Sergio Perez during the Azerbaijan GP?
Never before in the 2026 Formula 1 season has there been such a pronounced disparity in performance within a team as seen between Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Bottas was outqualified by 1.632 seconds on Friday, although a yellow flag impeded his efforts, and his difficulties continued throughout the race. By the time he made his first pitstop on lap 26, the Finnish driver was already trailing his teammate by over 46 seconds, which translated to a loss of 1.9 seconds per lap. His pace towards the end of the race was similarly disappointing; following the safety car interventions, he was losing 1.6 seconds per lap.
“Long one,” Bottas nervously laughed when asked to reflect on his race. “Honestly, I had no pace at all. I could only battle with Fernando [Alonso] – we definitely lost some time there. Otherwise, I was quite a bit off, so there are many aspects to analyze from this weekend.”
The seasoned driver did have to manage some lift-and-coast strategies but believed that didn’t sufficiently account for his significant deficit. “I think there’s something else at play. We’ll investigate,” he stated.
On the other hand, Perez kept pace with the midfield for the first stint. By lap 20, when Carlos Sainz made his initial pitstop, the Spaniard was only one second ahead of the Cadillac; Audi drivers Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto were not far behind.
Perez capitalized on the safety car, rejoining the race ahead of Sainz and briefly holding 12th after navigating the restart chaos, but ultimately slid back to 15th, falling behind Liam Lawson, Bortoleto, and Oscar Piastri.
“It’s been one of my best weekends in Baku, to be honest; I managed to extract 150% from that car,” said the two-time Azerbaijan GP champion.
Sergio Perez, Cadillac Racing
“We were battling against cars that are a second or two faster than us due to the overtake mode, so we stayed competitive throughout the first stint – with the Williams, with the Audi, there was a significant gap. But then at the restart, we just lacked straight-line speed, causing us to fall back. We had a brief tussle with Piastri; I believe he had some damage.”
“Right now, we’re lacking about half a second to a second to truly compete with them.”
“The issue is really my speed. I was a sitting duck on the straights, so I was aware that opportunities were limited.”
The disparity between Perez and Bottas can be attributed to the Mexican’s aggressive approach in the streets of Baku: “The way I felt I was driving, if anything had gone wrong at any corner, I would have ended up in the wall. So after a race like this, you feel a sense of pride.”
In contrast, Bottas’ race concluded with a crash into the wall due to a technical problem just before the finish line.
The Finnish driver has now completed three consecutive Grands Prix without spending a single racing lap ahead of his teammate on the circuit.
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