Sergio Perez is feeling confident after the first five races of the season—the Mexican also explains where he sees the biggest areas for improvement at Cadillac
The Canadian Grand Prix ended with a scare for Sergio Perez on Sunday. The suspension on his Cadillac MAC-26 broke after 39 laps, meaning the Mexican didn’t see the checkered flag after what had been a strong weekend up to that point.
Especially in Saturday’s Sprint race, Perez had surprisingly fought his way up to the front of the midfield and ultimately impressed with a 14th-place finish. Without a ten-second time penalty, he would have even finished in P11—ahead of both Audis, a Haas, and a Racing Bulls car, among others.
“I’m very satisfied with my performance and my driving level,” the 36-year-old sums up after the first five race weekends of his Formula 1 comeback. “I’m glad I came back and proved to myself that I’m among the best,” Perez says confidently.
Admittedly, the Mexican hasn’t scored any championship points yet. However, that wasn’t to be expected in the Cadillac at the start of the year either, so the internal duel against teammate Valtteri Bottas is particularly interesting. The Finn also returned to the starting grid in 2026 after a one-year hiatus.
In a direct comparison, Perez leads in all statistics. In the sprint duel against Bottas, the score is 3-0, and in qualifying and race duels, it’s 3-2 in each. Without the retirement on Sunday—which was through no fault of his own—Perez would even be leading 4-1 here, as he was well ahead of his teammate at the time of the failure.
While Perez is therefore satisfied with his own performance, the MAC-26 is not yet a top-10 car. “It’s still a distant goal at the moment, but we want to score points this year,” the Mexican emphasizes, nevertheless aggressively.
“I think we’re making progress in terms of performance, which is very positive,” says Perez, who also admits, however: “I believe that operationally, we still have major shortcomings and aren’t making the same progress as we are with performance.”
The weekend in Canada was another good example of this, reports the 2023 runner-up. Operational errors prevented the team from getting the most out of several sessions. “We’re not achieving the best possible results,” Perez criticizes.
Cadillac will have its next chance to do better in a week at the Monaco Grand Prix.