Czechoanalysis: Checo Pérez, mission accomplished; points? Not yet

Finishing your first Formula 1 Grand Prix is ​​of great merit, but winning points is something else and that will take time.

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Exactly one year ago, cadillac received the license to be team 11 on the grid of the Formula 1 and today they have successfully completed their first Grand Prizethis in the hands of Sergio Perez in the circuit of Melbourne’s Albert Park. The team has taken the first steps, in Australia the most important, but there is still a long way to go before points fall into the account.

“Our first race as a team is already over. Completing it is incredible and a true achievement just one year after registration was confirmed. Now that this is over, we need to improve our performance to be able to compete with intensity. We feel competitive within the team, and that is the attitude we need from now on to be able to close the gap and aspire to something big,” said Checo Pérez once the checkered flag fell in Melbourne.

In the week before the Australian GP, ​​I asked in my accounts what should be the realistic goal of Checo Pérez and Cadillac for the race in Melbourne?

The answers, I can say, 80 percent were very consistent: “Finish” was the constant, but, as always, and welcome, there were optimists who ranged from prophesying a career with many abandonments and therefore, that Perez He got into the points, to others who said that he “should” get into Q3 and even climb to the podium.

Well, reality proved most of us right and it was hardly going to be any other way, first because Cadillac F1 has put on the track, in record time, a car that only a year ago did not exist, against 10 other models that are at least three years old in computer simulations.

The best time in Q1 of Czech Perezwhich was the best of the two cadillac was 1:22.605, while the pole position of George Russell It was 1:18.518, about 12 kilometers per hour on average per lap, 4.087 seconds.

At least they are not in danger of the 107 percent rule, which excludes cars whose best time is more than 107 percent slower than the best in Q1 from participating in the race.

That is more or less the actual distance between cadillac and the best team, in terms of qualification, but in race pace, the distance seems greater.

Among the best lap of the race, which he made Max Verstappen with Red Bull and Pérez’s most notable time was 3.979 seconds, which if you multiply them by 58 laps, explains why Checo was lapped three times in Australia.

I insist, the merit of Cadillac F1 It is very large and it is worth mentioning those responsible for it: Dan TowrissCEO, your main team, Graeme Lowdon and the rest of the team led by the technical director Nick Chesterthe designer John McQuilliamthe executive engineer Pat Symondsthe chief mechanic Nathan Diveythe head of career engineers Xavi Marcos, the head of strategy Alex Goddenoughthe race engineer of car 11, Carlo Pasettithe performance engineer Martin Wahl and mechanic number 1 James Butland.

It was easier to hide behind newness and haste for not having complied or making a ‘justified’ mistake and not having given the minimum times in the Qualys or presenting cars well below the F1 standard.

But cadillacbeyond the anecdotal flying mirrors that were thrown from their mounts in both Pérez’s car and Bottas’ car or the base of Checo’s left mirror that ended up attached to the chassis like a cop clings to a moving train, beyond that which is not linked to performance, he passed the subject and made a worthy debut.

If it were an opera, we would say that cadillac He was the singer of the choir in the last row, but he did not go out of tune nor did he slip and fall on the Lady of the Camellias.

Now, as a beginning it is encouraging, there was good communication and feedback between Czech Perez and his engineer Pasetti and the Mexican even said he had the luxury of straightening his hair (not making it stand on end, because he already makes it stand up with a perm) Liam Lawson of courage, by fighting for position and not making it easy for him.

A good start is one thing, points are quite another.

Despite the optimism that some may express, the points are not going to fall, under regular conditions, into the hands of Cadillac, Checo and Valtteri Bottas. Much less will they be a constant.

F1, gone from being the pinnacle of speed and handling, is now the realm of power managers and administrators. It is as if you removed the masterpieces of the great artists from the museums and hung up the accounts they had to make to pay the bills while making a Guernica or Meninas.

What Australia taught us is that mercedes are the strongest, followed by Ferrari as the only real contender, then McLaren and Red Bulla couple of steps back, while Racing Bullsseems to top the middle table with Haas, Audi near, Alpine and Williams a little lost and Aston Martinfrankly backwards and cadillacfulfilling among the three below.

So that Cadillac F1 can add points on a hierarchical scale of current performance, it would honestly require them to abandon 12 cars, which with the fragile reliability of the new generation single-seaters, would not be ‘so’ crazy, but it would fall into the territory of ‘believe it or not’.

For real merits, Cadillac F1 could get closer to the points distribution zone when he manages, without the help of others’ mistakes, to get into Q2 and maintain a race pace that makes even Czech or Valtteri see so many blue flags (those that are waved so that the rstragglers let the leaders pass) like the ones they showed in Australia, which looked like they were at a UN event.

There are no magic recipes or potions. The very Mexican “echaleganismo” does not help much, Checo was ‘killing himself’ in the cockpit in Melbourne and was four seconds slower. Well wishes, optimism and patriotism (or chauvinism, whatever the case may be) will not make the AMC26the job is to find those details that make the car gain two or three seconds, which then the fine points to reduce the last second of disadvantage are the most complicated.

Surely, it will be a good part of the season before Pérez and Cadillac score some units. Certainly, if Saudi Arabia and Bahrain could leave the calendar, it would remove from the calendar a couple of tracks that are given to Checo, but the hands, the experience, are of little value when the famous “pace” or rhythm in the car is missing.

Where could Pérez’s scoring epic take place? Maybe in Azerbaijanwhere Checo always does well or in Madrid which will be new for everyone, but surely this will happen in the second part of the calendar.

For the moment, finishing races, identifying faults, locating patterns and adapting to driving on racetracks High Energy Management as it was Melbourne or will it be Jeddah, Austria, Monza or Spa and shorten distances in those of Low Management as Monaco or Singapore They will be your best allies, because while Cadillac seeks to catch up, the other teams will develop their potential and can become more unstuck.