‘I don’t think we have improved as much as hoped’ – Perez on why Cadillac had to review after recent ‘disappointment’

Sergio Perez has admitted that Cadillac had to review how they were doing things after “a lot of disappointment” over their recent run of form, with the Mexican suggesting that the team have not “improved as much as we hoped”.

After making their F1 debut at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, Cadillac have experienced various highs and lows in the months since, from achieving a best result of P13 for Valtteri Bottas in China through to suffering numerous reliability issues.

During an appearance on the latest episode of the official F1 podcast, Beyond The Grid, Perez – who first arrived in Formula 1 back in 2011 – spoke of how much he has enjoyed helping to create the team, but also acknowledged that there needs to be a progression going forward.

“I really feel like I'm part of this project, of this new era, building something from scratch,” he explained. “Of course, I want to win championships and be fighting at the front.

“But if you don't have that opportunity, I think Cadillac, it's something that motivates me a lot because it's like building a team from scratch and starting basically from last to see how far we can go together. I feel like here I'm much more than a driver.

“At the same time, they listen a lot to me on different things, on development and stuff. Only a few drivers can get that in their careers and it's the first time I can have this.

“I think the last few races have been a disappointment. There's a lot of disappointment because we haven't been developing. We haven't been improving. Us being a new team, is what we should be doing, like every time.

“So I felt like there was a bit of stalling in the last few races and that's why we had to review how we were doing everything. Obviously being a new team, there's a lot of things that we are constantly learning.

“I don't think we have improved as much as we hoped for. But the most important is we understand and we look at our processes, why it hasn't come, why we haven't improved in all those different areas. Because it's not only one thing. Being a new team, there's a lot of things that are in there and I can see them.

“If we improve our load, our ride, a lot of things, all of a sudden, we are not that far. We are at the back, but half a second, one second, will change our life completely at this stage. I feel like for us being a new team, it's in there. It's possible.”

Perez is hopeful that Cadillac – who recently welcomed new Team Principal Marcin Budkowski, the Pole having replaced Graeme Lowdon prior to the Dutch Grand Prix – can continue to move forwards, something that he feels would give them a headstart entering into their sophomore campaign in 2027.

“I want to see more progress, closing the gap to the teams ahead of us, be able to mix with them more in the races,” the 36-year-old said. “Being able to close that gap will only allow us to start next year in a much better shape.

“Obviously, I'm looking forward to work with Marcin, see his leadership and I think there's a lot of room for improvement, not just on performance, you know, operationally, pit stops, strategy, tyres, there's so much still.

“It's only our 10th, 11th race in our history. So there's a lot of things. I want to see much more progress closing up the gap and I think that will give us a massive boost to start next year.”

Driving for Cadillac means that Perez has had to adjust to fighting at the back of the field, having previously experienced racing at the front – and being a Grand Prix winner – during his four-year stint with Red Bull.

Pushed on whether the motivation is different when near the rear of the pack, Perez answered: “You're still at Formula 1. You're still at the pinnacle of the sport. You're still working with the best engineers in the world. You are competing against the best drivers of the world, although you are far from them.

“For example, my team mate is Valtteri [Bottas]. He's one of the most successful guys in the current grid. He's one of the fastest out there, so to keep up the challenge with him, it's that sort of motivation. Although we might be fighting for no point, you're still talking the same language to the engineers, to the tyre group, everything.

“It's crazy, but it doesn't matter if you are fighting for the championship or you're fighting for P18, the language is very similar and a couple of seconds can change your life a lot on development.

"With Aston Martin, they were fighting with us one week before and then in Hungary, they made a massive jump and probably in two, three months’ time, they're fighting at the front and they're talking the same language.

“That was something I thought when I was coming back, ‘the motivation is not going to be there because I will be fighting at the back’, but it hasn't been the case, I'm very happy that I'm still in Formula 1, talking the same language to my people around me.”

To listen to this week’s episode of Beyond The Grid, simply hit go on the audio player above or click here to listen via your preferred podcasting platform.

You can also check out a huge selection of previous episodes – spanning every decade of F1 – in our dedicated Beyond The Grid library.

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