Sergio Perez is set to return to Formula 1 in 2026, PlanetF1.com has learned, with an announcement on his future expected in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n
The Mexican driver is set to rejoin the grid after sitting out the F1 2025 season, following Red Bull\u2019s decision to part ways with him at the conclusion of last year.<\/p>\n
Sergio Perez set to join Cadillac<\/p>\n
Additional reporting by Mat Coch<\/p>\n
As an experienced hand in F1, with a career stemming back to 2011, Cadillac is set to plump for his experience to fill one of its cockpits for its inaugural season next year.<\/p>\n
Multiple sources have told PlanetF1.com that Perez has reached an agreement with Cadillac<\/a> that will see him return to the grid, with an announcement expected in the weekend of the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.<\/p>\n Confirmation of his return would spell an end to a year on the sidelines, with the Mexican released from his Red Bull contract at the conclusion of the F1 2024 season; the timing of this being too late for Perez to find a seat elsewhere on the grid.<\/p>\n In recent months, backed by a new manager, it\u2019s understood Perez has explored a number of options to return to the F1 grid, with communication maintained with Cadillac throughout the year.<\/p>\n While the Mexican driver did experience a major slump in form during last year, scoring just over a third of the points tally of Max Verstappen in the sister RB20, there has been vindication for him this year as his two successive replacements, Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda, have also struggled for pace and consistency.<\/p>\n However, Perez made it clear that the abrupt change of circumstances would not result in him calling time on his F1 career, as he said in January that his priority would be to, \u201cenjoy myself, to do things I haven\u2019t done, to be with my family.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the next six months, I will make a decision on what I want for the next step in my career.\u201d<\/p>\n His father, Antonio Perez Garibay, known for his vocal support of his son, also spoke about how \u2018Checo\u2019 would return to Formula 1.<\/p>\n \u201cThe best version of Checo Perez is yet to come. Everybody is going to be very happy and very proud,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat Checo Perez did until the past was this. What is coming will be historic, I assure you.<\/p>\n \u201cVery big things are coming for Perez, the only thing I tell you is that we Perez have not left Formula 1.\u201d<\/p>\n Cadillac will arrive in Formula 1 next year, with the American team led by former Manor Marussia CEO Graeme Lowdon.<\/p>\n Lowdon has had plenty of options for his driver lineup, and has been open about wanting to take the time to carefully evaluate the best course of action.<\/p>\n Veterans such as Valtteri Bottas and Perez were both quickly linked with a seat, the latter\u2019s name floated as a lead candidate for most of the year.<\/p>\n Just over six months on from Perez\u2019s claim that he would decide on his future, this decision now looks to have been made with the 35-year-old driver poised to take one of the two new seats.<\/p>\n More on Cadillac F1:<\/p>\n \ud83d\udc49 Cadillac F1: Everything you need to know about the new 11th team<\/a><\/p>\n \ud83d\udc49 Cadillac F1 signs first major sponsor with deep Formula 1 ties<\/a><\/p>\n One person who will be very happy to see Perez return will be former Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen, who endorsed the Mexican as an option just last month.<\/p>\n \u201cCheco has always been very strong,\u201d Verstappen said during the build-up to the British Grand Prix.<\/p>\n \u201cOf course, he had some difficult moments with us, but as long as he has the motivation to race, I think he is a very good choice, especially for a new team.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you look at his performances at Force India and Racing Point, you will see that he always scored good points there.\u201d<\/p>\n Perez boasts a long and established pedigree of being a dependable strong performer in the midfield.<\/p>\n His experience and capability, coupled with his wealth of backers like Telcel, Claro, Banorte and Inter.mx make him an ideal candidate for a burgeoning outfit such as Cadillac.<\/p>\n While the decision to take Perez on board fills one of the seats, attention will next turn to who takes the other. While Bottas would tick many of the same boxes as Perez, it\u2019s thought that the team will go for a rookie driver for the second seat.<\/p>\n Aston Martin\u2019s reserve driver Felipe Drugovich is understood to top this list, having impressed off the back of his years of sim work and setup contributions at the Silverstone-based team. Current F2 drivers Jak Crawford and Alex Dunne are also believed to have held talks with the Cadillac team.<\/p>\n Speaking in March, Lowdon said more than just experience will determine the decisions made for the formation of the new Cadillac line-up.<\/p>\n \u201cDo we value experience? Yes, you can see that from how we\u2019re putting the rest of the team together \u2013 there\u2019s a lot of very experienced people within the management and operational side of the team as well,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cSo that is important, but, when you\u2019re looking at driver selection, there\u2019s just a whole bunch of things that go into the decision making.<\/p>\n \u201cSo it\u2019s ability, capability, experience \u2013 but also looking towards the future as well.<\/p>\n \u201cI know it\u2019s not the best answer in the world, because it doesn\u2019t give a steer of which direction we may be going in, but it\u2019s the real answer, which is that\u2019s pretty much what we\u2019re analysing at the minute.\u201d<\/p>\n Read Next: Cadillac F1 driver shortlist, uncovered: Who\u2019s most likely to sign a contract?<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sergio Perez is set to return to Formula 1 in 2026, PlanetF1.com has learned, with an announcement on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":65942,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[49,4228,48,578,576,577,15415,1613,44,2191,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-65941","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-formula-1","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-cadillac","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-f1","12":"tag-formula-1","13":"tag-formula1","14":"tag-graeme-lowdon","15":"tag-home-page","16":"tag-news","17":"tag-sergio-perez","18":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65941"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65941\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}