'We cannot have these sort of issues' – Perez and Bottas reflect on Cadillac's problems in Austrian GP

Sergio Perez has stated "we cannot have these sort of issues" as both he and Cadillac team mate Valtteri Bottas were forced out of the Austrian Grand Prix in the opening laps with brake problems.

Cadillac brought an extensive upgrade package to the Red Bull Ring this weekend, with the American team hopeful that it would move their maiden 2026 challenger further into the midfield battle.

But throughout Friday the team suffered with reliability problems, Perez coming to a stop on track in both sessions while Bottas brought a smoking car back into the pit lane.

The team's fortunes failed to improve on Sunday, as Bottas was forced out of the race after just two laps with Perez joining him having only completed four of the scheduled 71 laps.

"We had a good start. We were looking good out there and unfortunately we just didn't progress enough and that meant that we were in the fight, we were fighting [Alex] Albon," said Perez.

"We overtook him, he overtook us back, things were looking good for us but unfortunately we had to retire quite early. It looked like we had a bit more pace to compete with the others, so it's a little bit of a shame.

"It's been a very frustrating weekend for the whole team to have these issues. I expect a massive internal discussion on our processes and how we are doing things because we have to step up because we cannot have these sort of issues."

Cadillac have struggled in their maiden season of F1, the team towards the back of the field and suffering from reliability issues meaning they have only finished three Grands Prix with both cars across eight rounds.

Bottas in particular has suffered numerous mechanical issues, meaning the Finn has not seen the chequered flag since the Canadian Grand Prix back in May.

"It was really sudden, unexpected," said Bottas of Sunday's problem.

"It was actually Lap 2 going into Turn 4, I could start to smell some smoke, see some smoke and then suddenly everything was on fire, front brakes on fire. Obviously had to stop the car and we're still looking into it.

"Difficult weekend, a lot of issues. Again, a weekend to learn from and just got to act on these issues and fix them. It's a shame because I thought we made the car a bit quicker but we've got to start finishing races."