David Coulthard is already ‘concerned’ about Sergio Perez after Bahrain pre-season testing

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David Coulthard has admitted that the time Sergio Perez has taken out of Formula 1 could harm his chances against Valtteri Bottas at Cadillac this year.

All eyes were on Cadillac heading into testing to see how much progress they had made during 2025, when they were given less than a year to design and build a Formula 1 car ready for this season.

Team principal Graeme Lowdon has built the team up extraordinarily quickly and decided to hire two veterans in the form of Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez to be their first driver line-up.

Bottas spent his year off the grid acting as Mercedes’ reserve driver, while Perez stepped away from the sport completely after a turbulent final 18 months racing for Red Bull.

Perez brings serious financial firepower with him to Cadillac, but David Coulthard is worried that his ‘siesta of a year off’ could mean he falls behind the Finnish driver in the intra-team battle this year.

READ MORE: Cadillac driver Valtteri Bottas’ life outside F1 from girlfriend to wine and gin

David Coulthard thinks Valtteri Bottas is ‘better prepared’ than Sergio Perez at Cadillac

Coulthard was speaking about Formula 1’s newest team on the Stay on Track Podcast and explained: “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the two drivers they’ve got there.

“It’s not the fastest driver pairing in Formula 1 as established by their career so far. But safe pair of hands, they don’t need to be breaking cars with rookies, you know? They need to be just getting up to speed with the operation of the team and the new regulations and things like that.

“So I actually think they’ve made a smart choice.

“I think Bottas is better prepared because he’s coming with that Mercedes information. He’s been working with Mercedes all last year, simulator work and the like.

“I’m a little bit concerned for Perez, who’s really enjoyed the siesta of a year off. I don’t doubt his commitment, but can you switch it back on when you’ve switched it off?

Is David Coulthard right to be worried about Sergio Perez this season?

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“They’re old enough to be professional out of the car. They know they’ve got to work for the greater good of the team.

“But make no bones about it. They’re individual teams, managers, physios, and everybody who works around them. Your teammate’s success is your failure.

“You’ve got to beat your teammate. And I’ve got to think if we were laying it out now, I think Bottas has a better chance of beating Perez just by the fact he’s more recent.”

READ MORE: Cadillac driver Sergio Perez’s life outside F1 from net worth to nickname

How Cadillac’s 2026 pre-season testing went with Sergio Perez ‘happy’ heading to the Australian Grand Prix

Reliability and mileage were the name of the game for Cadillac during two weeks in Bahrain, and they would have been encouraged by the fact that they completed a full program of running at the Barcelona shakedown when Aston Martin and Williams could not.

However, they did have some teething issues during their six days in Bahrain, and only Aston Martin completed less distance than them.

There are also concerns about Cadillac’s split livery, but that will be the least of their concerns, with Perez’s best time 3.3 seconds off the pace of Charles Leclerc and a tenth behind Bottas.

Reflecting on Cadillac’s first F1 pre-season, Perez said in his official post-test debrief: “I’ve really enjoyed this pre-season testing period. The atmosphere in the team feels great, we are going in the right direction, we’ve got a good, balanced car and covered a lot of mileage.

“Every lap we are learning more, and now it’s about developing and putting performance on.

“There’s always more to do, but I’m happy going into this short gap to Melbourne and excited to get back out on track in race mode.”