Sergio Perez targets podium return with new team Cadillac
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Cadillac F1 team CEO Dan Towriss (left) and Sergio Perez in August.
PHOTO: REUTERS
LONDON – Sergio Perez reckons he can get back on the Formula One podium with Cadillac, even if the sport’s newest team will likely also be the slowest when they debut in the 2026 season.
The Mexican, 35, and his Finnish teammate Valtteri Bottas, 36, are not short of experience, with a combined 527 starts and 16 grand prix victories, but both will be returning from an involuntary year on the sidelines.
Perez, dropped as Max Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate at the end of 2024
“Yes, I think so. I really believe it,” the former Sauber, McLaren and Force India/Racing Point driver told Reuters from Cadillac’s F1 base at Silverstone, where he was having a seat-fit for the team’s 2026 car.
“I think I’ve been on the podium with all the teams I drove for, except McLaren.
“I think we’re going to start at the back, progressively move forward. But ultimately, in the near future, that (the podium) is a target. It doesn’t matter who gets there, as long as it’s Cadillac.”
Backed by General Motors, the American team are well funded and staffed, recruiting several familiar names from other established teams and with more than 400 people on board already.
Preparations are on schedule and Perez will drive a 2023 Ferrari at Imola in November to shake off some cobwebs and give the team a chance to gel.
“I’m curious, you know, to find out how many laps my neck will do before it gets destroyed,” said the Mexican. “But it’s great... It’s a great test and a great way to finish the year before getting back in the car next year.”
The 2026 Cadillac will have a Ferrari engine, but has yet to be built, with testing scheduled for the end of January in Barcelona.
Instead, Perez will get behind the wheel of one of Ferrari’s red cars for the first time since he was in the Italian team’s academy and raced for Sauber in 2011.
“It’s basically just a time for us to be able to get together with the engineers, mechanics, start working all together, you know, start talking the same language,” he said.
Meanwhile, Ferrari chairman John Elkann told Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton to talk less and concentrate more on driving after a dire weekend for the team in Brazil.
Ferrari suffered a double retirement in Sao Paulo on Nov 9, their third race of the season without either driver in the points.
Also at the weekend in Bahrain, Ferrari won the World Endurance Championships (WEC) for drivers and teams.
Speaking after an Olympic sponsorship event in Rome on Nov 10, Elkann compared that triumph to the disappointment of Brazil and appeared to question the F1 team’s unity.
He told reporters the mechanics and engineers were performing their jobs well and had improved the car but “if we look at the rest, it is not up to scratch”.
“And we definitely have drivers who need to focus on driving and talk less, because we still have important races ahead of us and getting second place (in the championship) is not impossible,” he added. “In Bahrain, we won the WEC title. When Ferrari is united, we get the results.”
Ferrari, close runners-up to McLaren last season, have slipped to fourth in the constructors’ standings – behind champions McLaren, Mercedes and Red Bull. REUTERS
