Sergio Perez has delivered an early verdict on Cadillac after the opening four races of the 2026 Formula 1 season.
Cadillac entered 2026 as F1’s newest team, though expectations were tempered over what it could achieve in the early races.
Bringing in experienced drivers Valtteri Bottas and Perez, the early races have been both positive and frustrating for the American outfit as it battles reliability quips.
But rather than being relegated to the back of the grid, the team has found itself battling with Aston Martin, being able to split them in Miami.
Perez, though, is wary of the risks of being left behind the ultra-competitive development race in 2026.
“There is a bit of work to do there, but I’m confident that we are heading in the right direction”, he said to media, including Motorsport Week.
“I can see at times, as soon as the degradation starts to keep enough, we can be with the midfield, but they are just able to pick up the pace quite a lot.
“Still, [it is] a long season, but obviously, we are in a massive hurry to find performance, because we know that Aston is going to be improving, and we don’t want to left behind.”
Sergio Perez “having fun” with Aston Martin
Perez revealed his delight at battling with Aston Martin, highlighting his satisfaction with battling Fernando Alonso, but believes the team has one key weakness to overcome.
“We’re having fun with them,” he said. “Especially fighting Fernando is always a great thing, because races very fair.
“We just lacked a bit on degradation. We were degrading the tyres a little bit too much, and I think we chose the hard which, in hindsight, I would have gone for the soft.
“So it’s something to analyse, but at the same time, understanding this package will be key to make some more progress heading to Canada, because we need to understand this package more and try to bring better solutions.
“We don’t have much time, but I think one of the short-term things that we need to do is to fix the degradation. We have some ideas there, but just putting all the ideas together will be the biggest work in the coming weeks for the team.”
Cadillac is still in its infancy, but it is already beginning to make waves in the sport, but faces a long journey to move beyond the lower orders of the grid.
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