Sergio Perez issues Cadillac plea after opening-day misery

Sergio Perez has issued a plea for Cadillac to have a smooth third practice ahead of qualifying for this weekend's Australian Grand Prix, with the team badly needing data.

F1's newest team had a difficult opening day at Melbourne's Albert Park, which saw Perez spin during first practice.

Cadillac's day worsened in second practice, as a suspected hydraulics issue saw the Mexican stop on track in the closing minutes. Thankfully for the team, he did manage to return to the garage.

Unfortunately, Perez failed to set a timed lap in second practice. In total, he completed just 16 laps on the opening day, with 14 of those coming in first practice.

Asked to summarise his Friday, Perez replied: "Yeah, unfortunately we had too many issues out there. We couldn't get any long running, which was important.

"That was the main thing really today — not getting enough running. Hopefully tomorrow can be more straightforward. Hopefully we can try the tyres and see what we have."

It was at least a much better day for Valtteri Bottas, who managed 52 laps to offer Cadillac some reasonable data to analyse.

However, to make significant steps it needs data from both sides of the garage, leaving Perez hopeful that the team can enjoy a smooth final practice before qualifying.

"I mean, we're having small issues," added the 36-year-old. "I don't know what happened there at the end [of FP2]; it seems like an issue with the engine.

"So hopefully that doesn't put us on the back foot for tomorrow, and we're able to have a clean FP3 because we really need some data for tomorrow."