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Valtteri Bottas believes his Cadillac F1 car's energy systems became "confused", which led to his crash out of the Azerbaijan GP.

Bottas's race in Baku ended in the Turn 15 wall in the closing laps, with race leaders George Russell and Max Verstappen passing by on the final lap with the incident covered under yellow flags.

The incident appeared weird as Bottas was not travelling at high-speed, with the Finn pointing to an off earlier around the lap as a potential factor in how the car's energy systems had become "confused."

"On the same lap, I had a lock-up going into Turn 1 and went wide," Bottas told media, including RacingNews365.

"Then I think the systems got a bit confused because of the extra distance.

"I had a huge super clip into Turn 15, and then when I hit the brakes, only the front brakes would work.

"It was almost like I wasn't harvesting anymore with the rears, so something got a bit confused there."

F1 drivers do not actually control the energy deployment themselves in 2026.

Rather, a series of on-board algorithms are constantly learning and evolving to best deploy the energy, requiring smooth, consistent inputs from the driver so the system can 'learn' the circuit.

Also interesting:

Join RacingNews365's Ian Parkes, Sam Coop and Nick Golding as they look back on the Azerbaijan GP but also look ahead to F1's return this weekend to Malaysia! Rumours linking Christian Horner with a return to the sport is a major talking point.

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