Sergio Perez was sacked by Red Bull Racing following the 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix despite having a year remaining on his contract. The Mexican driver had an annus horribilus having started the season with four podiums in the first five race weekends.
With 85 points to his name following round five in China, Perez was looking good for another P2 in the drivers’ championship but then his world crumbled as his points tally for the next nineteen rounds was a mere 67.
To the very end, Perez insisted he would be driving for Red Bull this year as he had a contract, yet it appears from a negotiating point of view, this was a necessary position for him to take in order to maximise his payout for breach of contract by Red Bull Racing.
Checo’s conversations with Cadillac
Sergio of course has no drive this year in F1, but it appears there is hope he can finish his career in a more proper fashion, given he is now talking to another team about a drive for 2026. There were reports in the Mexican media that Checo was talking to Cadillac almost as soon as his deal with Red Bull had been terminated.
Cadillac of course are not yet registered with the FIA to race next year, although the mood music changed dramatically around the time of the last USGP. The chairman of Liberty Media appeared to have a beef with Michael Andretti which had caused the commercial rights owners to refuse to countenance the Andretti organisation joining Formula One.
Andretti resigned his position with the company who will run the new eleventh F1 team and the name was changed from Andretti to Cadillac. At the same time the chairman of Liberty Media, Greg Maffei, also resigned his position and hey presto the news broke that they would be accepted to join the F1 grid in 2026.
As yet Formula One Management have not yet agreed a commercial deal with the American subsidiary of General Motors, although the threat of the US Department fining F1 for breaking US anti-trust laws did appear to focus minds somewhat. The NFL was recently punished for a similar breach of US anti competition regulations, to the eye watering sum of $4.7 billion dollars.
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Perez main rival Valtteri Bottas
Now the rumours of Perez being recruited by Cadillac have firmed up from him being on their shortlist, to holding actual discussions according to Racing365. Cadillac are keen to bring into the team an all American driver, thought to be Indycar’s Colton Herta. However, the Californian born racer does not yet have enough points to qualify for an F1 super license having had a poor season.
Their other driver will be an experienced F1 racer of which there are a number available who lost their seats at the end not 2024. Valtteri Bottas and Kevin Magnussen are also possibilities for Cadillac, Though Sergio Perez with his 14 years experience comes with a host of wealthy Latin American sponsors.
Were it to come down to their F1 records, Bottas has ten Grand Prix wins to his name, while Checo has just six. Yet potentially the survival of the Mexican Grand Prix may rest on Sergio’s future in th esport as this week the promoters in Mexico City expressed their concern for the future of the event, were the locals have no hero to cheer for.
The Mexican Grand Prix is already facing an uphill battle to retain its place on the F1 calendar when its contract expires at the end of this year. A host of new venues are pressing for inclusion in the F1 circus and the viability of a race weekend in Mexico has been cast into doubt, were there no Mexican driver on the grid.
Mexican GP organisers concerned for the future
Mexico City hosts one of the most vibrant and passionate weekends throughout the F1 season, and the event has enjoyed a resurgence since its return in 2015. At the heart of its raging success has been the country’s undying love for Sergio Perez, whose presence on the grid has seen the fervent home crowd grow year on year.
Last year saw a record 404,958 fans pour into the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City over the race weekend, many coming specifically to cheer on their national hero. This kind of attendance number ranks the event one of the most popular on the calendar, despite their being a back to back race just a 90 minute flight away in Austin, Texas.
This week, Alejandro Soberon, CEO of CIE, the company behind the race’s promotion, admitted Perez’s absence from the grid is a major headache. “As organisers, we are very concerned about Sergio Perez’s absence from the Formula 1 grid,” he stated according to FormulaPassion.it.
“However, we are trying to find a way to extend our contract with the championship,” Soberon concluded. Whilst a home grown F1 star undeniably boosts the inter and engagement for Mexican fans, Soberon remains optimistic that the Mexican crowd will continue to find new drivers to rally behind.
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Mexico City GP’s contract expires this year
“Everything depends on marketing and, although it is always better to have an idol of the local public, in the event that there is not one we are convinced that the fans will still find a hero to support,” he concluded.
The timing of the Mexico’s contract expiration does complicate matters for the organisers although two other major venues – Idols and Las Vegas – also have contracts which expire in 2025. Las Vegas is believed to be a shoe in for renewal, even the revenue F1 has brought to Sin City on one of its quests weekends of the year, exceeded even the 2024 Super Bowl weekend held in Vegas.
Formula One are hopeful of securing an ten year deal to race in the Nevada dessert location and given the nigh on $1bn Liberty Media has spent on acquiring and developing the facilities, it is epexcted the deal will be done this year in due course.
Other nations eye set on F1 calendar
Yet a number of other nations have their eye on securing a spot on the F1 calendar, including South Africa and Rwanda as the sport continues to increase its global footprint. Vietnam too have a ready built F1 facility, but the corruption charges facing the nations ex-president, who personally endorsed the event, has left the the hopes of another Grand Prix in nation in limbo for now.
Whilst the Mexican Grand Prix has been the cornerstone of F1’s Latin American presence, it faces competent from Argentina who are now in the running following the emergence of they star junior driver, Franco Colapinto.
Should there be a collapse in the attendance in Mexico City this year, F1 may find themselves considering awarding the slot to another of the hopeful countries listed above and Soberon’s comments underline there is a certain anxiety concerning the future of the race.
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The Andretti father and son have kept their silence since Liberty Media’s F1 operating company (FOM) decided to do a U-Turn on its decision to exclude them from joining the sport. The FIA who regulate F1 had previously given the green light to the Andretti Racing organisation yet a number of the teams had made clear their opposition to an eleventh team.
Of course the issue was all about money as Christian Horner made clear when FOM announced an agreement had been reached over an eleventh team. Surprisingly the F1 bosses appeared to be taken aback around the time of the announcement as the Red Bull boss made clear when asked at the recent Las Vegas Grand Prix
“There’s a lot of rumours going around,” he told Sky F1.“Nobody’s spoken to us about it, but who knows. Obviously, for an American team to come in, I think would be a positive.”… READ MORE
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I’ve also started to believe in Perez ultimately joining the team thanks to the marketing benefits coming with him alongside vast F1 racing experience & six GP victories.
Therefore, even though Bottas has a better statistical record in F1 & only two fewer seasons of experience, Perez holds the advantage as long as he’s motivated to make a full-time return & Herta’s situation is more about his own motivation to make an F1 switch relatively deep into his professional racing career than anything else.
Jak Crawford is definitely a viable alternative to fill the US driver status.
Merely mentioning Magnussen is pointless as his F1 career is over for good this time around, which he also indirectly implied reading between the lines, i.e., he’s effectively also done like Ricciardo, nor has he necessarily even been on Cadillac’s short-list in the first place.
Therefore, Bottas & Zhou are Perez’s only competition.
Cadillac’s entry finalization is of course only a formality & so is Mexico City GP’s continuation & they’d definitely survive at least one season without a national driver in any case.
While South Africa & Rwanda have been on the table as possible future GP hosts as have Thailand & South Korea, merely mentioning Vietnam is pointless since that GP project failed ‘for good’ rather than only ‘for now’ as it was officially abandoned in 2021, so nothing will happen belatedly with that project anymore.