Cadillac wary of ‘being left behind’ in F1 development battle

Sergio Perez has warned that Cadillac 'doesn't want to get left behind', as battles with established team Aston Martin provide motivation for the all-new Formula 1 outfit. 

While Aston Martin has taken criticism for its difficult start to the 2026 season, Cadillac has earned praise for not having been cut adrift at the back of the pack, a fate often suffered when a new team joins the grid.

Although some way from scoring a point, a likelihood that seems possible at present only in a crazy race, Cadillac is not resting on its laurels, and is keen to push through the order and join the midfield battle.

Having brough upgrades to Miami - Aston Martin the only team not to do so - Perez believes that things are moving in the right direction. 

Asked how the upgrades had improved tyre degradation, an area which had previously been a problem, Perez said: "There is a bit of work to do there, but I’m confident that we are heading in the right direction. 

"I can see at times, as soon as the degradation starts to keep enough, we can be with the midfield, but they are just able to pick up the pace quite a lot.

“Still, [it is] a long season, but obviously, we are in a massive hurry to find performance, because we know that Aston is going to be improving, and we don’t want to left behind.”

Having entered the season with understandably limited expectations, having a team such as Aston Martin to battle with has provided significant motivation to push for greater performance. Despite recent results, it should not be forgotten that Aston Martin were regular points scorers last term, and were on the podium eight times in 2023. 

"We’re having fun with them," added Perez. "Especially fighting Fernando is always a great thing, because races very fair. 

"We just lacked a bit on degradation. We were degrading the tyres a little bit too much, and I think we chose the hard which, in hindsight, I would have gone for the soft. 

"So it’s something to analyse, but at the same time, understanding this package will be key to make some more progress heading to Canada, because we need to understand this package more and try to bring better solutions. 

"We don’t have much time, but I think one of the short-term things that we need to do is to fix the degradation. We have some ideas there, but just putting all the ideas together will be the biggest work in the coming weeks for the team."