Sergio Pérez called for patience in Cadillac’s development as a new Formula 1 team, highlighted the importance of identifying the car’s weak points before aiming for strong results, and pointed out that technical progress will be gradual throughout the 2026 season.
Sergio Pérez’s return to Formula 1 as a Cadillac driver for the 2026 season has drawn attention in the paddock, particularly due to the Mexican’s emphasis that the American team’s project must prioritize a thorough analysis of its technical weaknesses and the accumulation of data before setting high performance targets.
Cadillac, set to debut as the eleventh entrant in the Formula 1 World Championship, will use Ferrari power units in its first competitive year and is building its program from scratch.
In that context, Pérez stressed that “it’s about finding the weak points” of the overall package and that analysis and fine-tuning must come before any concrete sporting expectations. This approach reflects a measured technical reading of the challenge of establishing a new team in motorsport’s top category, where reliability, understanding the car’s limits, and adapting to the new 2026 technical regulations are critical factors for making consistent progress.
Pérez underlined that the initial phase of integration with Cadillac, including simulator sessions and meetings with engineers, is precisely aimed at gathering information to guide the development of the CA01, the car he will drive alongside Valtteri Bottas in the team’s debut season.
Collaboration between experienced drivers and technical staff is focused on identifying shortcomings in areas such as aerodynamics, load balance, and hybrid system management under the new rules.
Beyond the need for time to consolidate these internal processes, Pérez’s remarks also imply a strategic outlook: the formulation of a long-term development plan that allows Cadillac to progressively address its less refined technical areas.
This approach aligns with the team’s broader vision, which prioritizes gaining experience and building development capacity over chasing immediate results, especially in a debut season where most rivals already operate with more mature platforms.
Pérez’s insistence that the car’s weaknesses must first be understood and corrected before targeting competitive goals fits within a context of deep learning that few new teams can avoid. As Cadillac turns testing and simulator data into concrete solutions, the role of drivers like Pérez will be crucial in translating on-track feedback into effective technical adjustments.
From a competitive standpoint, the fact that Cadillac and its drivers are not focusing on specific points or positions in the opening races reflects the reality of a project still under construction. Pérez’s explicit objective of allowing time for the process and precisely identifying the technical program’s weaknesses suggests that progress in the 2026 Formula 1 World Championship will be gradual, with an emphasis on minimizing errors and optimizing every development area before entering the direct fight for points when the calendar kicks off in Melbourne in early March.