Sergio Perez hopes one thing is different at Cadillac after ‘demanding’ final Red Bull year

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Sergio Perez will make his Formula 1 comeback with Cadillac in 2026 after a year out on the sidelines.

The Mexican was announced as part of the American team’s 2026 lineup alongside Valtteri Bottas, who also makes a comeback after spending 2025 as the third driver for Mercedes.

Perez’s move to Cadillac comes after a torrid final season at Red Bull, in which the Mexican was outperformed by Max Verstappen and suffered a series of crashes that impacted their chances in the Constructors’ Championship.

While many were quick to blame Perez’s form dropping off, the recent drama surrounding the second seat at Red Bull was used as leverage for the Mexican to reignite his chances of getting back on the grid.

Now he is hopeful that the Cadillac project offers something different that he didn’t get at Red Bull, and helps him rediscover what made F1 enjoyable when speaking on The F1 Show podcast.

Sergio Perez hopes F1 becomes more ‘enjoyable’ with Cadillac move

Perez’s stay at Red Bull was cut short at the end of 2024 due to poor results, but the lack of improvement from his replacements, coupled with the Milton Keynes squad’s drop off, has earned him some respect.

The Mexican’s experience will no doubt be valuable for Cadillac for the 2026 F1 regulations, while Perez is hopeful this next chapter offers something better.

“The longer it went on and the more I thought about it, I obviously spoke with my family about it. And we all felt like this is the right thing for us as a family, as a project, to get back to enjoy it [F1]. Because as you know, the last year especially, was very hard. It was very demanding and I didn’t enjoy it,” said Perez.

“So I love the sport and I want to go back to enjoy it, you know. And this is my main engine. The main drive factor that I’m coming back is to just enjoy it and give back a lot of love to the sport that has given me everything.”

READ MORE: Cadillac have just made a 2026 F1 driver decision that might seriously upset Sergio Perez’s camp

Cadillac insiders think ethos will suit Sergio Perez better than Red Bull

Cadillac will be the fifth team in F1 for Perez and will likely be his biggest challenge yet, more so than his brief period at McLaren where he was ousted after a season in favour of Kevin Magnussen.

Craig Slater revealed what former McLaren communications head, Matt Bishop, told him about why he thinks Perez will find the atmosphere more suited to himself.

“Matt was making the point a little bit, who’s now got a communications business and is working with Cadillac just to explain why he was here today. He thinks the ethos here and the slightly more informal nature of this startup team and the characters involved in it will suit Checo very well,” said Slater.

“It was a difficult, as he just said himself, atmosphere at Red Bull, never mind the car, but I think what was going on there did not help him laterally. And he hasn’t, he didn’t really thrive at McLaren, where I think it was a little bit of a straightjacket, some of their ways of operating as well.”

Perez will be hopeful that Cadillac can hit the ground running early on in 2026 and compete in the midfield, although a lot of that will depend on how well the Ferrari power unit performs compared to rivals.