Sergio Perez has already shown much disappointment with Cadillac’s recent performance in the 2026 Formula 1 season, but he received a response from the team principal, Marcin Budkowski. The executive stated that the team has not reached a development plateau and explained the factors behind the lack of performance.
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Cadillac entered the F1 grid this year as the 11th team and spent most of the year at the back of the pack. According to Budkowski, however, the situation needs to be analyzed taking into account both the drivers’ expectations and the timing in the category’s calendar.
Budkowski revealed that he spoke with Perez and Valtteri Bottas even before taking over the team, when his hiring was announced. On that occasion, Perez asked what would be done for the Dutch GP, held just one week after the executive started working.
“I said: ‘Well, Checo, I think I need to manage expectations a bit’,” Budkowski said when questioned by the press about the possibility that Cadillac had reached a limit in its development.
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The executive also explained that the team has shifted most of its resources to the 2027 car. Additionally, reliability issues, especially related to brakes, consumed efforts that could have been directed towards performance gains.
“The reality is that we are at a stage of the season where everyone is working on next year’s car. We shifted most of the resources to 2027 and have a development line that is slowly drying up,” he added.
Even so, Budkowski believes there is room for Cadillac to improve before the end of the current season: “There is performance we can still extract this year. But our focus needs to be on the 2027 car,” the executive concluded.
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