Cadillac F1 has confirmed that Sergio Perez will return to Formula 1 in 2026. He will be partnering Valtteri Bottas as part of the American manufacturer’s long-awaited debut on the grid.
The announcement marks a fresh start for Perez. He was left without a seat in 2025 following a tough final chapter with Red Bull. Despite signing a two-year contract extension in the summer of 2023, the Mexican was dropped at the end of 2024 after scoring just 33 points across the final 13 races.
A fresh start for Perez
It was a bruising period for the 35-year-old, particularly as team-mate Max Verstappen swept to another drivers’ title. Yet Cadillac and TWG Motorsports CEO Dan Towriss insists Perez has erased any doubts about his motivation.
“Certainly there was a lot of conversation around the gap, having been out for a full year,” Towriss explained. “I think when you look at Valtteri, he’s at the track every weekend, right? And so it was important for us to kind of know where Sergio’s at in terms of his desire to be back in Formula 1, and also his belief in our project in leading the Cadillac Formula 1 Team. And we couldn’t have been more pleased with his response.
“I think, again, in our meetings with him, he outperformed, I guess. If you would say we had questions, we had skepticism around some of these things and he answered all of our questions, passed our tests with flying colors. And so we were pleased to put him forward.“
Context beyond Red Bull
Perez’s struggles at Red Bull have been well documented. But Towriss emphasised that the wider circumstances needed to be taken into account. While Max Verstappen continued to dominate in the RB21, both Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda also failed to deliver consistent results. That, Towriss noted, highlighted an underlying issue with the machinery rather than simply exposing a weakness in the drivers.
The RB21 was often described within the paddock as a car that behaved unpredictably at the limit. I was described as a car with a narrow operating window that suited Verstappen’s aggressive driving style but left others struggling to extract performance. By examining that context, Cadillac concluded that Perez’s downturn was not solely a reflection of his ability. But in part a product of the environment at Red Bull, a team long seen as built around Verstappen’s strengths.
“We spent a lot of time looking at past experience and kind of what the state of the world was at Sauber, and really how Valtteri performed with the car that’s there and kind of qualifying performance versus race performance,” Towriss continued.
“And then in particular, probably the more complicated scenario was Red Bull, right? That’s been an interesting kind of saga to watch, a team that’s really built around one driver, but has two. And clearly none of the other drivers have fared well in that second seat from that standpoint.
A proven race winner
For Cadillac, Perez brings more than just experience. Since his F1 debut in 2011, he has developed a reputation as one of the grid’s most reliable points scorers and opportunists. Over the course of stints with Sauber, Force India, and Racing Point, he collected nine podiums. This includes his famous charge from the back to win the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix.
His move to Red Bull in 2021 delivered the most successful spell of his career. He helped the team secure back-to-back Constructors’ Championships in 2022 and 2023, while also finishing second in the 2023 Drivers’ standings. Across his four years in Milton Keynes, he added five victories to his tally.
Though his final season tailed off dramatically, Cadillac clearly sees Perez as the ideal figure to spearhead its F1 journey.
“So we did take a lot of time to talk to people at Red Bull and get information and feedback. The process was lengthy and thorough from that standpoint,” Townriss said.
“And again, I think what that means is having looked through all that, we feel very good about Checo, his desire to be in Formula 1, to make a statement, to show the performance that he has and kind of put that last season or so from Red Bull in the rear view mirror.”
Cadillac’s ambitious line-up
Perez will line up alongside Valtteri Bottas, giving the new team one of the most experienced driver pairings on the grid. Bottas brings more than 200 race starts, 10 career wins, and the know-how of having raced alongside Lewis Hamilton during Mercedes’ dominant era.
The combination underlines Cadillac’s intent not just to join Formula 1, but to compete seriously.
