Sergio Pérez finished 20th in Friday practice at the Barcelona Gp and said Cadillac still has work to do before Saturday. The Mexican driver said the team is changing several things on the car after he felt out of step with the balance as soon as he climbed in.
That matters now because the opening day of the weekend is the first real chance to see where Cadillac stands at the Gran Premio de Barcelona-Cataluña, the seventh round of the Formula One World Championship. Pérez said the goal is to cut the gaps and turn the car into a much more competitive window for Saturday, when the setup changes will have to show up on track.
Pérez also pointed to the work done earlier in the day by Colton Herta, who drove the first practice session and gave the team useful information for the rest of the weekend. That made him more comfortable with the direction of the program than with his own run in FP2, where he said the balance was not right for a circuit like Montmeló.
The contrast is sharp because Alonso arrived at the same circuit sounding far less celebratory about his own prospects. He said on Thursday that this would probably be his last race at Montmeló, but added that he would not be competitive and would not spend much time in Q1. The remark cut through the home-race mood and underscored how unforgiving the weekend can be for drivers who do not find the right rhythm immediately.
Alonso has won twice at Montmeló, with Renault in 2006 and Ferrari in 2013, and he said he has scored only one point in six races this season after finishing tenth in Monaco last weekend. He also said he would decide after the summer whether to continue in competition, a reminder that the circuit may be looking at the possible end of an era just as Pérez and Cadillac try to repair the start of theirs.
