Bottas Reveals What Broke in His Mexico Crash, and Why Cadillac Didn’t See It Coming

Valtteri Bottas has explained the cause of the suspension failure that led to his crash at the Mexico City Grand Prix. The part that broke was the mountings for the wishbones, the suspension arms connecting the wheel to the chassis. The team discovered the exact cause and reason behind the failure. Bottas noted that while the team had certain limits for temperatures, they had to review those limits.

The heat from the brakes, difficult to cool in Mexico City's thin, high-altitude air, caused the failure. He mentioned that the heat was going into the wishbones, which the team did not realize to such a severe extent. Bottas stated that the team believed the parts were safe, but they never tested them under such prolonged high temperatures.

He also revealed that his car was running hotter than expected during the Mexico race. Cadillac has since reverted to the previous version of the wishbone mountings and lowered the temperature limits for those parts. The suspension is currently being stress-tested at Silverstone to establish more precise temperature limits. Bottas is confident that a repeat of the incident at Interlagos is unlikely, as the race should be cooler, possibly with some rain.