MEXICO CITY — The wait is over. The return of Sergio "Checo" Pérez to Formula 1 is now official. The Mexican driver will lead the new project for Cadillac Racing, a team set to debut in the 2026 season of the premier motorsport category. He will be partnered by Valtteri Bottas, as the American outfit has opted for experience in its inaugural year.
The announcement was made on Tuesday following the summer break of the 2025 season and ahead of the Dutch Grand Prix. This ends months of speculation, as Pérez Mendoza had been identified as the primary candidate for the seat ever since the entry of the General Motors-backed team was confirmed.
Checo Pérez joins Cadillac after 14 seasons in Formula 1, during which he has contested more than 280 Grands Prix. His career includes stints with Sauber, McLaren, Force India, Racing Point, and Red Bull. It was with Red Bull that he experienced his most successful period, securing five victories, 29 podium finishes, and two Constructors' Championships alongside Max Verstappen.
In total, he has six wins to his name, including his historic victory at Monaco in 2022 and a sprint win in Azerbaijan in 2023. With 1,638 accumulated points, he is the most successful Mexican driver in history and the only one to have stood on the podium in his home country, a feat he achieved in both 2021 and 2022.
After concluding his chapter with Red Bull in 2024, a season marked by performance fluctuations and a bitter final race in Abu Dhabi, Pérez's future was uncertain. However, the driver from Guadalajara did not give up. As he has done throughout his entire career, he got back up.
Cadillac F1 will be the second American-owned team on the current grid, alongside Haas F1. But unlike Haas, Cadillac represents the industrial pride of the United States, backed by General Motors, and will now have the heart and passion of a Mexican driver behind the wheel.
The path to this point was not easy. More than four years passed before the Formula One Management (FOM) approved the team's entry, despite backing from the FIA and its president, Mohammed Ben Sulayem. During this period, the relationship between F1 and Michael Andretti—the leader of the Cadillac project—was strained to the point of near rupture, following decades of tensions and rejections from the European establishment.
Yet the dream persisted. Now a reality, it arrives with Checo Pérez as its standard-bearer.
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