Sergio Perez Says a Half-Second Could Transform Cadillac’s F1 Season

Sergio Pérez has admitted that Cadillac has had to review its procedures after "a lot of disappointment" due to a lack of development in recent races. The Mexican said the team has not improved as much as expected and that they need faster progress: "The last few races have been a disappointment, there's a lot of disappointment because we haven't been developing. We haven't been improving" declared Pérez on the official F1 podcast, Beyond The Grid.

The 36 year old driver, who has been involved in the team's creation from its beginnings, highlighted the importance of the long term project: "I feel like I'm part of this project, of this new era, building something from scratch. Of course I want to win championships and be fighting at the front, but if you don't have that opportunity, Cadillac is something that motivates me a lot because it's like building a team from scratch and starting basically from the end to see how far we can go together" he explained.

Pérez acknowledged that the team has suffered a stagnation in recent races: "I feel there was a bit of stagnation in the last few races and that's why we had to review how we were doing everything. Obviously being a new team there are many things we are constantly learning. I don't think we've improved as much as we expected, but the most important thing is that we understand and look at our processes, why it hasn't come, why we haven't improved in all those different areas" he stated.

The Mexican trusts that the team can take a step forward if they manage to improve in key areas like downforce and car behavior: "If we improve our downforce, our behavior, many things, suddenly, we're not that far off. We're at the back, but half a second, a second, will completely change our lives at this stage. I feel that for us, being a new team, it's there, it's possible" he explained.

Pérez also referred to the arrival of Marcin Budkowski as the new team principal: "Obviously I'm looking forward to working with Marcin, to see his leadership and I think there's a lot of room for improvement, not only in performance but also operationally, in pit stops, strategy, tires, there's a lot still. I want to see a lot more progress closing the gap and I think that will give us a big boost to start next year" he stated.

The Mexican driver highlighted the importance of motivation, even when fighting at the back of the grid: "You're still in Formula 1, you're still at the top of the sport, you're still working with the best engineers in the world. Even though we're fighting for no points, you're still speaking the same language with the engineers, with the tire group, with everything" he declared.

Pérez cited Aston Martin as an example, which has taken a leap forward in recent races: "With Aston Martin they were fighting with us one week and then in Hungary they made a big leap and probably in two or three months they'll be fighting at the front and they're speaking the same language. That was something I thought when I came back, 'the motivation won't be there because I'll be fighting at the back' but that hasn't been the case. I'm very happy to still be in Formula 1, speaking the same language with the people around me" he explained.