Perez warns Cadillac to 'find performance' or risk being left behind

Cadillac's first Formula 1 campaign has shown occasional flashes of potential, but Sergio Perez delivered a stark warning to the American squad: improve quickly, or risk being swallowed by the relentless development race.

Why it matters:

In Formula 1, isolated moments of competitiveness mean little if a team cannot sustain progress. With Aston Martin pouring enormous resources into its recovery — including a state-of-the-art simulator and high-profile engineering hires — Cadillac risks being left behind if upgrades do not arrive fast enough. Perez's warning reflects the brutal reality that survival requires relentless improvement.

The details:

• Miami showed promise, then reality. Perez briefly climbed to 15th in the sprint and 13th in the grand prix before tyre degradation caused him to fall back into a battle with Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll.
• Perez valued the duels, calling fighting Alonso “a great thing because he's very aggressive and very fair,” but admitted the team's strategic calls and race pace need work.
• Tyre degradation was a key weakness. Perez noted: “We were degrading the tyres a little bit too much and we chose the hard which, in hindsight, I would have gone for soft. So it's something there to analyse.”
• The performance gap is real. Cadillac sat around 1.3 seconds off the Q2 cut in early rounds; in Miami sprint qualifying that shrank to just 0.3s, only to widen again in grand prix qualifying as rivals extracted more pace.
• Operational progress is emerging. Pitstop execution — previously among the slowest on the grid — improved noticeably in Miami. Perez called the stop “amazing” and a sign that other departments can follow suit.

What's next:

Perez believes understanding the MAC-26's behaviour is critical ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix. “We need to understand this package more and try to bring better solutions,” he said. “One of the short-term things we need to do is our tyre degradation. Putting all the groups together will be the biggest work in the coming weeks.”

For Cadillac, moments of potential are no longer enough. In Formula 1, progress must become relentless — or the grid moves on without you.