Sergio Perez looks at his upcoming stint with the Cadillac Formula 1 Team as his last hurrah in the sport after admitting that his sabbatical made him realize he wasn't done with racing.
Perez's fall from grace in his tough final season from a four-year stint with Red Bull Racing is well documented as the Mexican struggled to keep up with Max Verstappen in Red Bull machinery that became tougher to drive with every upgrade.
The failures of Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda at Red Bull redeemed Perez, who, after a year on the sidelines, found his way back to F1 with Cadillac, who are becoming the 11th team in 2026.
Perez admitted his time away from the sport served as a reminder that he was not yet done with F1; he reflected: "In the beginning, the first couple of months were great.
"I realized that I missed [F1] because I kept following it. I kept waking up for the races. I could see what was happening—I was talking to friends that were in the paddock, and I realized that probably I missed it more than I thought.
Cadillac basically starting from zero
"And then when the conversation started with Cadillac and we could see that passion for racing, then, yeah, I felt like I still have something left in me," he claimed.
Perez, who admitted that he felt "demotivated" with F1 in his final days with Red Bull Racing, insisted that he was lucky to have a break and come back with Cadillac.
"It feels great," he said. "Now that I look back, it was like a dream scenario, being able to take a year out and then get that refreshment.
"After 15 years or so in Formula 1 to get that refreshment and then have all the energy again for what I see as my final stint in the sport... I have all the energy now to get back to it, to work with the team, to push the team forwards in all areas, on the simulator. It's a new team, so we're starting basically from zero," he explained.
Perez, a six-time Grand Prix winner, has recently been talking big about his return, setting ambitious targets, and he has reiterated them based on what he has seen at Cadillac in terms of preparation and the experienced staff that have joined from rival teams.
Rate of Cadillac's progress will be crucial
He continued: “I think one thing is getting everything ready for Melbourne, but the other thing is to get it ready and competitive, which we are all pushing for. Having all that experience around us really helps us a lot.
“You see a lot of familiar faces, people that have been in the paddock for a lot longer than I've been there, a lot of experience with a will to prove themselves in the sport.”
The 35-year-old, who tested a 2023 Ferrari F1 car last week, has been busy working with his new Cadillac team; he revealed: "It's been good being backwards and forwards with the team.
"I've been pushing on some certain areas, giving some direction. It's great to have a team that you feel that you can influence and you can ask for certain things.”
And when quizzed about how good Cadillac will be when their cars hit the track in Melbourne in March of 2026, Perez responded: "To me, it's a bit irrelevant where we start.
"What is more important is how quickly we are able to progress. I want to push the team forward from day one. I think we will be able to surprise a lot of people. That's a target for us, to be able to have a strong impact in Formula 1 since day one.
"I see this as my main, big, final project in the sport, and I want to make sure that I make it a successful comeback," Perez, a veteran of 281 Grands Prix, concluded.
(Quotes from Formula One Official Website)
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