Valtteri Bottas faces major Cadillac first as significant milestone made

Valtteri Bottas has revealed that for the first time since joining Cadillac, he enjoyed a full day with "not a single issue".

It represents a significant step for Formula 1’s newest team, which has been plagued by problems across the opening grands prix in Australia and China.

At the Japanese Grand Prix, the American outfit appears to be ahead of Aston Martin, although Williams has also made a step forward.

Despite this, Bottas is confident the gap to every team ahead has been reduced, with a full day to focus on performance proving a major boost.

The Finn’s assessment of the opening day is that Cadillac is ahead of Aston Martin but behind Williams across one lap and in race trim.

"It seems like we’ve closed the gap a bit to, I think, pretty much all the cars ahead," said Bottas.

"The gap is a bit smaller than before, and today, actually, on my side of the garage, for the first time in a race weekend, it was a day when there was not a single issue.

"We could just completely focus on performance, on the setup work, and not fixing issues, so that was good.

"I think both one-lap pace and race pace, we are still a bit off from Williams, but we seem to be ahead of Aston Martin."