With Formula 1 pausing for its European summer break after 11 rounds on the calendar, it is easy to say that Cadillac’s struggles come as no surprise. After all, they are a brand-new entrant entering the category during a major technical regulation overhaul. That does not mean, however, that the team should accept sub-par progress—a point Sergio Pérez was keen to emphasize during this period of reflection.
According to Pérez, even with the expected leeway, Cadillac has simply failed to make the strides it anticipated, leaving the squad struggling to close the gap to the midfield.
“It’s been tricky,” he began. “It’s very difficult for our team to develop. We basicially haven’t developed enough. Of course, we need to rethink our processes to ensure we are capable of bringing much more performance, because that is fundamental in Formula 1. We’re lacking a bit of that. We haven’t progressed the way we would have liked,” he continued.
“We want to shrink the gap. At times we’re just too far off. The good thing is that the issues are very clear, and if we can address them, we’ll see a big performance jump soon. That’s the positive side,” he stated.
What Pérez insists on, however, is that not everything requires new parts to fix.
“Some things require updates, but others don’t. Take our race pace, for example. We have a clear understanding of what we’re missing regarding tire management, and we’re working hard to address it. At the moment, it’s just not working well. That kind of insight explains what’s missing and where the team is aiming to boost performance soon,” he concluded.
Cadillac remains the only team yet to score points in the 2026 season, with Valtteri Bottas’s 13th-place finish in China standing as their best result to date. Pérez came close to the points in Monaco, but was demoted to 15th following a penalty. Nevertheless, ‘Checo’ has clearly been the driver extracting more performance from the car across the garage, though he heads into the summer break notably more dissatisfied than his teammate.
Formula 1 is currently on summer break. The series resumes 2026 season action from August 21 to 23 with the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort.
