Sergio Pérez stated that his performance never dropped during his time at Red Bull in Formula 1. The Mexican attributed the difficulties experienced before leaving the team at the end of 2024 to the circumstances faced in the last months of that period.
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Now defending Cadillac, Pérez has been outperforming his teammate, Valtteri Bottas, throughout the 2026 season. For the driver, this does not represent a performance recovery, but rather the opportunity to show a level he had previously demonstrated. “I couldn’t show my full potential due to very different circumstances in the last six months at Red Bull. There were many factors behind that,” he said.
The Mexican believes that his current phase led part of the public to conclude that he is delivering more than expected, but he disagrees with this assessment. “People think I’m performing above normal now, but I was already driving at a very high level before, considering the circumstances I was in. I don’t see a difference with this new generation of cars,” he explained. Pérez also highlighted that he is satisfied with his progress: “I’m very happy with my pace and feel that I keep improving. I just need to keep delivering results, that’s the only thing that matters to me right now.”
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Besides his performance on track, Pérez stated that he uses the experience gained at Red Bull to help develop Cadillac, a newcomer to Formula 1. According to him, the main difference lies in the team structures. “Red Bull is a very experienced and established team. They know where to find performance. For us, everything is still new, and the budget cap also made this process quite challenging,” he said.
The driver emphasized that he tries to guide the technical work based on his impressions behind the wheel, but reminded that turning these indications into performance depends on collective work. “As a driver, you point the direction, show what is missing. Then it’s up to the team to find the solutions, and everyone is working towards that,” he concluded.
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