American car manufacturer General Motors will debut as Cadillac F1 Team in 2026, adding one more garage to the paddock and two more drivers to the starting grid. How the car will turn out is anyone’s guess, but much of the initial impression will depend on the drivers’ seated in the cockpits.
“The play at the beginning would be to have one experienced driver — nationality doesn’t matter — and then a young American talent,” F1 world champion and a director on Cadillac’s team board Mario Andretti said. “These are the objectives at the moment.”
Cadillac’s best choice for an experienced driver on their new team is Mexico’s Sergio “Checo” Perez.
Perez started his F1 career in 2011, debuting with the Swiss team Sauber and earning three podium finishes with them in 2012. After an unremarkable year driving for McLaren in 2013, Perez made a name for himself in the midfield of the grid. He consistently pushed mediocre cars into masterly maneuvers and consistent top-10 finishes, even scoring the occasional podium finish.
Perez won his first victory in 2020 at the Sakhir GP, and he joined Red Bull Racing as their second driver for the 2021 season. Perez drove for Red Bull for four years, scoring five additional victories as well as 29 podiums and becoming F1 subchampion in 2023.
On Dec. 18, Perez and the team released statements articulating their decision to part ways. This followed a regrettable season for Perez, where he finished eighth in the Driver Standings; he left with no seat for the 2025 season. Nevertheless, Perez’s experience, skill set and marketability make him an excellent candidate for Cadillac’s entrance into F1.
Perez’s 14 years of durability on the F1 grid is nothing to laugh about, given how many hopeful drivers come in for a year or two before they receive the boot. Perez has driven good and bad cars, won in street circuits and race tracks and has wrangled with world champions to come out on top. He knows the sport and the environment, which will benefit Cadillac as they get settled.
Though his last season left him open to vicious criticism, Perez’s reputation as a driver was pretty stellar before he joined Red Bull. He is known for his good management of tires, his aggressive overtakes on the track and his talent for helping teams develop their cars. A young team like Cadillac will need someone who knows how to race an F1 car and how to work with his team to advance the machine. Without development drivers like Perez, teams get stuck in uncomfortable spots trying to make their cars function year after year.
Furthermore, Cadillac would benefit from Perez’s popularity. Beloved in his home country of Mexico, Perez has consistently been one of the most cheered-on drivers in non-European races. The Austin Grand Prix and Miami Grand Prix have been referred to by some as his home races, given the large amount of support he receives from fans there. With popularity comes sales. From team merch and sponsorships to Cadillac vehicles themselves, Perez has a face that has lit up advertisements for Red Bull and their sponsors for the past four years – Cadillac would be lucky to find a man who could sell their brand half as well as Perez would.
In an interview with FoxSports MX reporter Diego Mejia, Perez said he would consider a return to F1 if a “good and interesting project” came up. Fans now wait in the hope that Cadillac’s F1 team is such a project and that the two parties will consider each other with all due diligence so that Mexico’s most successful driver can make a triumphant return to the sport in 2026.
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