Sergio Perez left the Red Bull team and the F1 paddock at the end of the 2024 season after a dismal last few campaigns. With him repeatedly failing to make it to Q3 and Red Bull unable to retain the Constructors’ Championship last year due to his poor form, the team had no choice but to part ways with him at the end of last season.
But despite leaving the sport on a grim note, it seems as though a sensational comeback is already on the cards.
The FIA and FOM recently revealed that the General Motors-backed Cadillac F1 project had been given the green light to debut on the 2026 grid as the sport’s 11th team. Naturally, the UK-based squad will need to sign two drivers to finalize the grid.
1978 F1 champion Mario Andretti — who has been working very closely on this project — has recently confirmed that the #11 driver is one of the candidates that the team is looking to hire. That said, Perez himself hasn’t made up his mind yet.
Sergio Perez is in talks with Cadillac to drive in 2026!
Read Below⬇️#CadillacF1 #ChineseGP pic.twitter.com/0smCVaLj5X— Cadillac F1 Team News (@CadillacF1_) March 28, 2025
In fact, the Guadalajara-born driver wants to take at least a six-month hiatus before putting pen to paper. “I gave myself six months before deciding how to proceed,” he revealed as quoted by Speed Week.
“I want to check my options first before I determine what my next step in my career will look like,” added the 35-year-old.
Moreover, Perez also revealed that he had “many doors open” to him. This also means that the Mexican racing ace is contemplating a racing career outside of F1, with reports having linked him with the Ferrari Hypercar project in WEC and even Formula E.
Who is likely to partner with Perez at Cadillac?
As things stand, Perez is Cadillac’s top priority. But the team also needs to look at options for fielding a teammate for the former Red Bull driver.
Reports suggest that the American team is looking to sign an American driver in 2026. However, with Super License restrictions and other factors involved, Andretti did admit that his options are very slim.
Yet, the 85-year-old has shortlisted his candidates for the second seat. “There may be three drivers to choose from. Three drivers, realistically, to choose from. And I’m not going to tell you which ones,” he revealed per RacingNews365.
Many experts believe that Cadillac are keen on signing Colton Herta for that second seat. Although Red Bull’s sister team, RB, also wanted to sign the American driver back in 2023, he could not join them because he did not have the required super license points. It seems that the same issue could also arise now.
Any driver wanting to compete in F1 requires a minimum of 40 points on their super license over a three-year period, and Herta has just managed 32 in the past three seasons. However, with him having scored 31 of the 32 points in the past two seasons, he just needs to score nine more this year, which seems like a realistic possibility.
