– The Canadian Grand Prix ended with a scare for Sergio Perez on Sunday. The suspension on his Cadillac MAC-26 broke after 39 laps, so the Mexican did not see the checkered flag after a strong weekend up to that point.
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Especially in the sprint on Saturday, Perez surprisingly fought far up in the midfield and ultimately impressed with 14th place. Without a ten-second time penalty, he would have even finished 11th – ahead of both Audis, a Haas, and a Racing Bulls car.
“I am very satisfied with my performances and my driving level,” the 36-year-old sums up after the first five race weekends of his Formula 1 comeback. “I am glad that I came back and proved to myself that I belong to the best,” Perez says confidently.
Although the Mexican has not yet scored a World Championship point, this was not expected in the Cadillac at the start of the year, and so the internal duel against teammate Valtteri Bottas is particularly interesting. The Finn also returned to the grid in 2026 after a year off.
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In direct comparison, Perez leads in all statistics. In the sprint duel against Bottas, it is 3:0, in qualifying and race duels 3:2 each. Without the unfortunate retirement on Sunday, Perez would even be ahead 4:1 here, as at the time of the failure he was clearly ahead of his teammate.
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While Perez is therefore satisfied with his own performance, the MAC-26 is currently not a top-10 car. “At the moment it is still a distant goal, but we want to score points this year,” the Mexican emphasizes aggressively.
“I think we are making progress in performance, which is very positive,” says Perez, who also admits: “I believe operationally we still have big deficits and are not making the same progress as in performance.”
The weekend in Canada was again a good example of this, reports the 2023 vice world champion. Due to operational errors in several sessions, they did not get the maximum out. “We are not achieving the best possible results,” Perez criticizes.
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The next chance to do better is with Cadillac in a week at the Monaco Grand Prix.
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