Cadillac Launches Probe After Bottas’s Secret Radio Fury Leaks

Cadillac will investigate the failure of the Mexican Grand Prix that enraged Valtteri Bottas.

Team principal Marcin Budkowski has vowed to ensure accidents like the one that ended Bottas' race "do not happen again."

Bottas was at top speed entering Turn 1 on lap 46 at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez when his front-left suspension collapsed as he hit the brakes.

The failure sent the Finn into a slide and into the TecPro barrier.

Such was the damage caused, the former F1 race winner remained in his MAC-26 while he regained his breath.

A red flag was thrown to suspend the race while marshals began repairing the barriers.

In team radio that has since been posted on social media, Bottas — clearly agitated — repeatedly shouts expletives before being asked by race engineer John Howard if he was ok.

"F**k no," was the response of the former Williams, Mercedes, and Alfa Romeo driver.

The unaired audio quickly spread online, prompting Cadillac to open a formal internal investigation.

After a trip to the medical center, where he was given the all-clear, Bottas was excused from media duties.

But in Cadillac's post-race media debrief, he explained: "It was a big impact going into Turn 1, but thankfully I'm OK."

"Thank you to the medical team for checking me over and to everyone who helped at the scene," Bottas said.

"It is a testament to the hard work the FIA has put in over many years to make our sport as safe as possible."

"We need to work through everything thoroughly as a team to understand exactly what happened, and make sure we learn from it," he added.

"We had a strong opening lap and made up some places, so it's disappointing not to finish another race."

"We'll regroup now and focus on continuing to make progress in Sao Paulo next week."

Bottas and teammate Sergio Perez have suffered from numerous reliability failures across Cadillac's maiden F1 campaign.

Those failures have been far less dangerous, with both drivers able to either pull into the pit garage to retire or stop on track.

Pointing to the severity of this issue in the same debrief, Budkowski said: "Everyone is relieved that Valtteri is OK after the incident on lap 46."

"We will fully investigate the cause of this failure and ensure such accidents do not happen again," Budkowski stated.

Cadillac's weekend in Mexico was not a pace story but a margin story.

Too little in a suspension corner, too little in a pit stop, and too little in a pit lane speed limit.

Perez celebrated his 300th participation in F1 with a notable performance in front of his home crowd in Mexico.

Despite advancing to thirteenth position in the early moments of the race, a long pit stop and a penalty for speeding in the pit zone undermined his good performance.

Budkowski highlighted that the weekend had been the most competitive for the team, with both drivers fighting in the leading group.

Budkowski congratulated Perez on his 300th Grand Prix, noting that it had been a memorable week for him and the entire team.

What is confirmed about the crash is that Bottas hit the barrier at Turn 1 after his front-left suspension failed under braking.

The safety car was upgraded to a red flag because of the barrier damage.

He climbed out unaided, and Cadillac confirmed he was released after a precautionary medical assessment.

The FIA's final classification lists him as not classified after 42 laps.

No cause has been published.

Until it is, "suspension failure" describes what was seen, not what was found.

A detail worth holding onto: after Friday practice, Bottas said in Cadillac's practice report that the team needed to "keep an eye on reliability, particularly with the brakes and engine."

Budkowski called Mexico City "a difficult circuit for cooling and the brakes."

Sunday's failure came under braking.

Brakes and suspension are different systems, and nothing Cadillac has said links them.

But a team that flags braking loads on Friday and loses a corner under braking on Sunday owes its drivers a clear account of whether that stress was predicted.

That is the question the investigation is expected to answer: was it design margin, part life, or damage from something earlier in the race?

Bottas's Mexico was compromised before the lights went out.

His Austin race ended with what Cadillac called a suspected power unit issue, with the cause still under investigation.