Valtteri Bottas reveals 'red zone' Cadillac issue that sparked horrifying crash

Valtteri Bottas has revealed how his horrifying crash in the Mexico City Grand Prix was caused by his Cadillac running in the "red zone" for too long with brake temperatures.

Approaching Turn 1 at top speed at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, the left-front suspension completely gave out, exploding in a way similar to Sébastien Buemi's Toro Rosso in China over a decade ago.

It left Bottas a passenger and powerless to prevent a heavy collision with the barriers. After a short while in the stricken MAC-26, the Finnish driver gave the thumbs up to indicate he was okay, before climbing out of the car.

The 10-time grand prix winner explained the extent of his injuries, which were thankfully significantly less severe than they otherwise might have been.

"[There was a bit of] pain, but it is just a muscle bruise, so nothing damaged, and now it feels completely normal," Bottas began to media, including RacingNews365, in his first public comments on the crash. 

"These things shouldn't happen, but it happened. The main thing is that we understand why we have certain limits when it comes to temperatures, and we've reviewed those so we could really locate exactly what broke, and why."

Bottas revealed that Cadillac has changed back to some older parts for this weekend's Sao Paulo Grand Prix to alleviate any concerns with the car.

"We've had to revert some parts to the old spec, and we've had to revert the limits on temperatures we can run on those," he explained. "The heat from the brakes has to go somewhere, and at the moment, part of it is going to the wishbones."

Pushed further on the change, Bottas explained that the MAC-26 was running "in the red zone" for too long, with brake issues a problem that has plagued the American team throughout its maiden campaign.

"It is the wishbone mountings, but we've lowered the limits, which shouldn't be an issue here," he said. "We understand that we're just running too long in the red zone. We thought it was safe, but we never tested it by running it so long at that temperature."

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Bottas on Cadillac suspension in Brazil

Turning to the Interlagos weekend, Bottas was optimistic that the lower temperatures forecast, including rain on Sunday, should mean the issue is not a problem.

"Based on the forecast here, I think we should be okay," he said. "It's going to be quite a bit cooler on Sunday, maybe some rain, so I think here we should be okay, but they are still doing more testing at the factory with the right side of the suspension that is now back in Silverstone. 

"They're doing some stress testing and trying to get more accurate temperature limits on both.

"If we didn't understand what broke and why, then you would struggle with confidence, but we understand, and we know now what the limits are, so that's why it's okay. 

"Mexico is going to be the hardest one for the rest of the season with the temperatures, so I think we should be okay, but obviously need some good redesigning for the future."