While David Coulthard believes that Cadillac made a \u201csmart choice\u201d with its F1 2026 drivers, he does have his concerns about Sergio Perez.<\/p>\n
After a season out of Formula 1 following his Red Bull departure, Perez returns for F1 2026 with Cadillac. But, Coulthard is questioning whether Perez can \u201cswitch it back on\u201d mentally after his time away from the sport.<\/p>\n
David Coulthard questions Sergio Perez readiness for Cadillac return<\/p>\n
Want more PlanetF1.com coverage? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a> for news you can trust.<\/p>\n Cadillac went with experience for its very first F1 driver line-up. 10-time grand prix winner Valtteri Bottas arrived after spending 2025 as Mercedes\u2019 reserve. He will be partnered by Sergio Perez, six times a grand prix winner.<\/p>\n Both drivers will make their first race start since Abu Dhabi 2024 at this weekend\u2019s Australian Grand Prix.<\/p>\n While Bottas remained involved with Formula 1 through 2025 via Mercedes, Perez spent that time out of the sport after losing his Red Bull seat.<\/p>\n It is Perez who Coulthard, a fellow former Red Bull driver, has some concerns about.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s anything wrong with the two drivers they\u2019ve got. It\u2019s not the fastest driver pairing in Formula 1, as established by their career so far, but safe pair of hands,\u201d Coulthard said of Cadillac\u2019s Bottas and Perez pairing, while speaking on the Up To Speed podcast.<\/p>\n \u201cThey don\u2019t need to be breaking cars with rookies. They need to be just getting up to speed with operation of the team and the new regulations and things like that. So I actually think they\u2019ve made a smart choice.<\/p>\n \u201cI think Bottas is better prepared because he\u2019s coming with that Mercedes information. He\u2019s been working with Mercedes all last year, simulator work and the likes.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m a little bit concerned for Perez, who\u2019s really enjoyed the siesta of a year off. I don\u2019t doubt his commitment, but can you switch it back on when you\u2019ve switched it off?\u201d<\/p>\n Coulthard was asked by podcast co-star Naomi Schiff how hard he believes Bottas and Perez will be battling each other to be \u201ctop dog\u201d at Cadillac.<\/p>\n It was put to Coulthard that both of these drivers experienced what it was like to be in the shadow of a teammate, Bottas at Mercedes alongside Lewis Hamilton, and Perez as Max Verstappen\u2019s Red Bull teammate.<\/p>\n \u201c100 per cent,\u201d Coulthard replied. \u201cThey\u2019re old enough to be professional out of the car. They know they\u2019ve got to work for the greater good of the team. But make no bones about it, their individual teams, managers, physios, and everybody that works around them, your teammate\u2019s success is your failure.\u201d<\/p>\n Coulthard gives the nod to Bottas in this upcoming intra-team battle.<\/p>\n He continued: \u201cYou\u2019ve got to beat your teammate. And if we were laying it out now, I think Bottas has a better chance of beating Perez, just by the fact he\u2019s more recent.\u201d<\/p>\n As Cadillac prepares to commence its Formula 1 journey, Coulthard made a comparison with his time at Red Bull.<\/p>\n Coulthard was Red Bull\u2019s first F1 driver, racing for the team between 2005-08. He believes that Bottas and Perez will be in a similar mental space of helping build the Cadillac foundations for future success.<\/p>\n Red Bull became title contenders from 2009, the year after Coulthard retired from Formula 1. The following year, Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull won a first of four consecutive Drivers\u2019 and Constructors\u2019 Championship doubles.<\/p>\n \u201cI see it like this. When I stepped away from McLaren after nine seasons, I just didn\u2019t feel done with Formula 1,\u201d said Coulthard, \u201cand although I knew the Red Bull scenario was unlikely to bring me any more victories, it meant I could put my energy and anger and frustration and all the things that I carried in my career into helping build a team.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s exactly where I think Bottas and Perez\u2019s minds will be.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think for one moment they truly believe they\u2019re going to win a grand prix with Cadillac in the time they have left, unless you have one of these freak races where three cars finish a race in wet conditions or something like that.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, in many ways, it\u2019s fulfilling what they were born to do. It\u2019ll be a nice payday for them, and they\u2019ll lay the foundations of, let\u2019s be honest, it would be nice to see Cadillac in the future being a successful Formula 1 team.\u201d<\/p>\n Latest F1 2026 talking points via PlanetF1.com<\/p>\n F1 penalty points: One driver perilously close to race ban, even before the first lap of F1 2026<\/a><\/p>\n F1 2026 predictions: Title winners, Verstappen, Hamilton and the wooden spoon<\/a><\/p>\n Sergio Perez has a point to prove with Cadillac<\/p>\n It would be unwise to count Sergio Perez out to soon. This is a driver who returns to Formula 1 with major unfinished business.<\/p>\n The struggles of Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda in the Red Bull seat after him went a long way to redeeming Perez, after his bruising final year with the team.<\/p>\n Now, Perez has the opportunity to demonstrate that he was not the undisputed culprit, that he still has something to give.<\/p>\n Perez will want to go out on his terms, and that can be done by writing a successful final career chapter with Cadillac, setting the team up for F1 success down the line.<\/p>\n He has only just turned 36. Bottas is the same age. We have Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton still competing in their 40s, so who is to say that Perez and Bottas will not be around to reap the future rewards for their hard work.<\/p>\n Want to be the first to know exclusive information from the F1 paddock? 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