Sergio Perez talks about the approaching end of his career, though he still wants to help Cadillac for a few more seasons—Will it all be over in three years?
Sergio Perez sees a few more years in his Formula 1 career during which he wants to continue building up the Cadillac project, but he’s already thinking about his own “expiration date”: “Of course, I don’t have forever,” the 36-year-old says on the Beyond the Grid podcast, citing “maybe three years” as a figure.
After leaving Red Bull following the 2024 season, Perez took a year off and returned to Formula 1 this season with the new Cadillac team. Even though he’s currently trailing the pack, he wants to see “how the project progresses.”
That’s why the 36-year-old is giving himself a little more time in the premier class, even though he knows the end of his active career is drawing ever closer: “I think there’s a certain age at which you start to decline,” says the Mexican, and he doesn’t necessarily mean physical decline.
“I believe it’s the inner drive. It’s the will—and you can see it from the outside, when you’re not in the car, how much you’re thinking about your engineers and your car,” says Perez. “When you start to think about it less and less, that’s the first warning sign, I’d say. It starts to fade.”
As a young driver, on the other hand, your thoughts revolve solely around what’s next, how to drive better, and which techniques to use. With age, however, that gradually fades.
Fernando Alonso still has the drive
When that age is reached, however, varies from driver to driver, as can be seen in the case of Fernando Alonso. “We might still see Fernando when he’s 60,” Perez laughs. “He’s still driving at an extremely high level. But I think Fernando is different.”
“He still has that inner drive. You can see it in him: Whenever an opportunity arises, whenever there’s something he can take advantage of, he still has that drive.”
But from Perez’s perspective, calling it quits is anything but easy: “I think it’s damn hard for a driver to accept that it’s enough, that you’re no longer as competitive as you’d like or hope to be,” he says. “But in the end, you have to be very honest with yourself and be grateful—to the child who once started it all.”
“You have to be able to say: You know what, it’s time to do something else.”
“More than just a driver” at Cadillac
And for the Cadillac driver, that time isn’t too far off: “I have great respect for what Fernando has achieved in the sport and for his motivation. For me, though, it won’t be much longer, because I want to do other things outside of Formula 1,” he clarifies.
But he still has a role at Cadillac that he really enjoys, as he feels he’s “more than just a driver” at the new team—he gets to build the team from the ground up and set its direction.
“Of course, I want to win championships and compete at the very front. But if that opportunity isn’t there, Cadillac is something that motivates me tremendously,” he emphasizes. “Very few drivers are offered this in their careers, and it’s the first time I’ve had this opportunity.”