Midfield heroics in the 2026 season have put Sergio Pérez in high demand. Rival teams face a steep financial climb to break his lucrative multi-year Cadillac contract.
Sergio Pérez has been one of the most pleasant surprises of the 2026 Formula 1 season, and his strong showings have inevitably attracted attention from elsewhere on the grid. Few expected the driver born in Guadalajara to arrive at a brand-new constructor and immediately push into the midfield battle — yet that is precisely what he has done.
In recent weeks, reports emerged suggesting that teams including Haas and Williams had made enquiries about Pérez's contractual situation at Cadillac, exploring whether a future move might be possible. The speculation intensified following his impressive displays at the Miami and Monaco Grands Prix, with Audi's name also raised as a potential destination.
According to information published in ESPN by journalist José Antonio Cortés, however, extracting Pérez from Cadillac would be far from straightforward. Cortés reported that the Mexican is highly valued within the Cadillac organisation — not merely as a driver, but as a commercial and sporting asset.
His contract runs for two years with an option for a third, and his compensation package reportedly reflects that standing. Cortés revealed that Pérez earns a salary at Cadillac that is slightly above what he had been making at Red Bull — a figure that, excluding bonuses, was understood to be in the region of twelve to fifteen million dollars per year.
Any team seriously looking to sign him would first need to cover the cost of breaking his contract — which, with potentially two years remaining, would not come cheap — and then offer a package that surpassed what he's currently earning.
Why is Checo Pérez performing so well at Cadillac?
When a new team enters Formula 1, it typically takes time before it can field competitive machinery. The logistical, technical, and financial complexity of building a team capable of competing at the highest level, across multiple continents, over the course of an entire season, is enormous.
Many new entrants spend their early years simply trying to avoid finishing last. That was largely the expectation for Cadillac and Pérez heading into 2026. Most predictions had the Mexican firmly anchored at the back of the field, spending the majority of his weekends fighting for points that would never materialise.
The reality has been very different. Pérez has managed to push the Cadillac beyond what the car should theoretically be capable of, coaxing performance from it that few expected and consistently challenging teams further up the order.
The clearest illustration of that came at the Monaco Grand Prix, where he came agonisingly close to scoring the team's first-ever championship points — only to be hit with a post-race penalty from the FIA that dropped him down the final classification. It was a bittersweet moment that nonetheless underlined just how far Pérez has already taken a team that, on paper, had no business being in that conversation.
