Why Sergio Perez shows vote of confidence in Cadillac despite mixed 2026 debut

On Wednesday it was announced six-time grand prix winner Perez would continue with the US-owned team for another three seasons until the end of 2029, when the veteran will be 39.

It may well be the last F1 deal Perez will ever sign, but following a bruising Red Bull stint and a much-needed sabbatical in 2025 to recover from it, it is clear the Mexican has found a real home at the GM-backed squad, one where his input is appreciated and he doesn't feel he is operating on the periphery of a squad built around a generational talent like Max Verstappen.

To Cadillac and GM, Perez makes sense in a lot of ways, from his driving talent, experience and drive behind the scenes to his connection to GM's critical Mexican market, where the group sold nearly 200,000 models in 2025 - a market share of 12,2 percent.

Perez also appears to have forged a close relationship with the team's upper leadership, including CEO Dan Towriss and especially GM CEO Mark Reuss, who has made a big impression on the Mexican as a real racer.

That's why 'Checo' was keen to throw his full weight behind the team, and as is the case for team-mate Bottas, there is a real appeal in being part of something bigger from day one and building up a brand-new team.

Making the first race in Melbourne and seeing the chequered flag was a huge accomplishment under founding team principal Graeme Lowdon. But as time went on that novelty factor of being F1's start-up squad started to wear off. As progress stalled, patience also started to wear thin with what was perceived as a lack of urgency to make the next leap forward.

That's why Towriss' sudden move to axe Lowdon and various other staffers during the summer break and replace him with former Renault and Ferrari man Marcin Budkowski may have felt harsh to the outside world, but the idea of change was supported by Perez.

Lowdon led Cadillac at the start of the year before being replaced

Photo by: Joe Portlock / Getty Images

"Graeme has done a tremendous part in bringing Cadillac to where it is now, together with GM and Dan," Perez said in Zandvoort, the first race after the news was announced. "But I think it was time to change and I think it shows that, although it's only our first year, Cadillac is really willing to move forward with this team as quickly as possible. And we hope that with the new leadership that can come soon."

It followed comments from Perez before the summer break lamenting the team had been behind where he expected it to be. An F1 driver wanting his car and team to perform better is hardly a shocking revelation, but it demonstrated that while Perez was in it for the long haul, he wanted the team to match his own level of ambition and urgency to make such a deep time investment in the autumn of his driving career worth his while.

Yes, Perez knew he needed to be patient, but aged 36, he also wanted to see the foundation for long-term success put in place as quickly as possible. He didn't have the time to hurry up and wait.

"The level that I've been driving at this year has been really top"

Sergio Perez

Meanwhile, his own driving performance compared to Bottas prompted comments that he was performing at his highest level ever. There are mitigating factors, such as subpar production quality with various parts and suppliers, ride problems and car inconsistencies that make it tough to really judge Bottas' season at face value.

However, clearly Cadillac's management has seen the same thing as it handed Perez a long-term deal while reconsidering the identity of its second driver. Bottas still has a chance to remain in place, but Cadillac invested a lot of resources into making its American test driver Colton Herta race-ready. It goes without saying that every other free agent on the market will have at least thrown their hat in the ring, from the likes of Frederik Vesti to Paul Aron to Yuki Tsunoda. There's also the curious case of Esteban Ocon, who didn't enjoy the most harmonious partnership with Perez at Racing Point, though some sources suggest that shouldn't be overstated as an obstacle at this stage.

Perhaps Bottas' saving grace is that there is no obvious, huge upgrade available at this stage of the silly season, so his camp will argue Cadillac is best served with experience and continuity as it builds towards a more competitive future. Perhaps it's too early for Cadillac to put a rookie in the other car that doesn't have the irresistible natural turn of speed of the likes of 2027 Haas debutant Rafa Camara.

Asked about his own year, Perez said: "The level that I've been driving at this year has been really top, getting the maximum out of the car in very difficult conditions, very difficult occasions. I think we're not lacking anything on the drivers' side. Once we get a little bit more performance, once we close the gap a little bit more to the midfield, I'm pretty confident that we will be over-delivering. The thing is that now we are over-delivering a lot as a team, but the car is just too far away."

Perez has shone, even if Cadillac's first season has been difficult

Photo by: James Sutton / LAT Images via Getty Images

Under incoming team chief Budkowski, Perez hopes the team can pick up the pace both on track and at its various factories across both sides of the Atlantic. The arrival of former Red Bull designer Craig Skinner, who worked with the Mexican during their time at Milton Keynes, forms a major part of that, and Perez was very keen for Skinner to join. Former Aston Martin deputy tech chief Eric Blandin also joined as the team's head of aerodynamics, as did experienced aerodynamicist Tim Lean, who heads up aerodynamics modelling and simulation under Blandin.

But as every major rebuild in F1 shows, there is an unavoidable delay in turning organisations around or recruiting staff from rival teams. "Putting everything, all the puzzle pieces together with the departments before we see a real impact in the car performance; everything in Formula 1 takes too much time, unfortunately," Perez acknowledged.

"You are very limited with things that you can change quickly with the budget gap and with the people you can get in place and so on, so that hasn't been a fairly easy thing for the team."

But that doesn't take away from the expectation that Cadillac getting a second go at everything from designing to building and operating two race cars should yield a much better result than its oft-troubled maiden campaign, which continues to be plagued by reliability gremlins.

"Now that it's our second year as a team, putting everything together, I expect us to be making a very big step. That's definitely the target," Perez insisted.

"I think if we are able to do that, then we will be in a really good position to score points on a regular basis. But I do expect that more towards the half of next year. I think we are going to start a lot stronger this year, but I really want to see good progress through the year."

What will the Perez-Cadillac partnership bring next year?

Photo by: Chris Graythen / Getty Images