Bottas reveals cause of dangerous Mexico crash: Heat weakened the car’s suspension

Cadillac launched an investigation into the sudden suspension failure on Valtteri Bottas’s car after the Mexican Grand Prix. The first findings are now in. The Finnish driver revealed that hot air from the brakes had compromised the integrity of the suspension.

Valtteri Bottas was desperately unlucky to suffer a suspension failure on the fastest section of the circuit in Mexico. Formula 1 also had a lucky escape, however, because had Bottas not had a clear track ahead of him and another driver been in the braking zone at that moment, he would have swept them off the track.

The Cadillac driver was shaken by the crash but ultimately escaped serious injury. “[There was a bit of] pain, but it is just a muscle bruise, so nothing damaged, and now it feels completely normal,” said Valtteri Bottas of the effects of the crash.

At Thursday’s press conference, he outlined the initial findings of the internal analysis. “These things shouldn’t happen, but it happened. The main thing is that we understand why we have certain limits when it comes to temperatures, and we’ve reviewed those so we could really locate exactly what broke, and why.”

In Sao Paulo, Cadillac will revert to an older specification of components around the suspension. “We’ve had to revert some parts to the old spec, and we’ve had to revert the limits on temperatures we can run on those,” he explained. “The heat from the brakes has to go somewhere, and at the moment, part of it is going to the wishbones.”

Mexico’s thin air did not help Cadillac either, making component cooling even more difficult. The American team therefore spent too long operating in the “red zone”. “It is the wishbone mountings, but we’ve lowered the limits, which shouldn’t be an issue here.”

“We understand that we’re just running too long in the red zone. We thought it was safe, but we never tested it by running it so long at that temperature,” revealed Valtteri Bottas.

Similar problems are not expected in Brazil, with the weather forecast even predicting rain. “Based on the forecast here, I think we should be okay,” he said. “It’s going to be quite a bit cooler on Sunday, maybe some rain, so I think here we should be okay, but they are still doing more testing at the factory with the right side of the suspension that is now back in Silverstone. They’re doing some stress testing and trying to get more accurate temperature limits on both.”

“If we didn’t understand what broke and why, then you would struggle with confidence, but we understand, and we know now what the limits are, so that’s why it’s okay. Mexico is going to be the hardest one for the rest of the season with the temperatures, so I think we should be okay, but obviously need some good redesigning for the future,” he concluded.