Sergio Perez is sitting out his first Formula One campaign since his debut season for Sauber back in 2011. The Mexican driver had a difficult year in 2024 for Red Bull culminating in them coming just third in the constructors’ title race.

Checo was the worst placed amongst the eight drivers form the top four teams and failed to make it out of qualifying 1 on six occasions across the year.

Having signed a new contract with Red Bull in the summer, Perez refused to accept his inevitable departure from the team, claiming to the last Grand Prix in Abu Dhabi his seat was safe for this year and he would again be a Red Bull driver.

 

 

 

Little American F1 experience on offer

Just days after the F1 finale in the desert in December, Red Bull announced Perez would be leaving the team and replaced somewhat surprisingly by Liam Lawson. The New Zealand driver had been parachuted in alongside Yuki Tsunoda after the sacking of Daniel Ricciardo, but Lawson failed to out qualify his new team mate in each of the sic Grand Prix weekends they raced together.

With all the available seats confirmed for 2025, Perez late departure from Red Bull Racing meant the Mexican has been forced to sit out this year but hopes of a return have been revived by his Latin American sponsors.

Whilst Perez had a terrible season in 2024, the Mexican driver has six Grand Prix wins to his name and at age 35 is certainly not ‘over the hill’. Cadillac (Andretti in disguise) will be joining the F1 grid in 2026 meaning at the start of the season there will be 22 seats available for the first time since 2016.

Whilst under the guise of the Andretti application to join the grid, the American owned team made a lot about its racing heritage and also that of American born racing drivers. It’s expected they will recruit at least one driver who represents their own nationality, but in terms of F1 experience the American cupboard looks to be bare.

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Herta favourite amongst the Americans

Much has been made over Colton Herta joining F1, a young Californian Indycar driver who has an exciting turn of pace. Red. Bull were interested in signing Herta for Al[pha Tauri in 2022, but were thwarted by tough FIA super licence rules to qualify for F1.

Mario Andretti stated recently that one of the Cadillac seats will “most likely” go to him”, but added that “you have to keep your options open.” Herta is currently part of the Andretti Racing stable competing in Indycar.

Cadillac will run with Ferrari power units when they join F1next year, although the plans for them to introduce their own V6 hybrid now look to be in doubt. With both FIA president and Liberty Media’s F1 supremo agreeing that come 2030 it will be time for a return to naturally aspirated V10’a or V8’s – with bio fuel – the time and investment required to bring their own F1 hybrid power unit for 2028/2029 appears pointless for the US car giant.

Meanwhile Sergio Perez is now linked with the Cadillac F1 entry, which is no surprise as Checo brings much needed experience to the team from an F1 drivers’ perspective. His 14 seasons in F1 gave him a high profile amongst the drivers and his commercial value in the America’s is almost second to none amongst his peers.

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Perez sponsors held talks with Cadillac

Perez’s sponsors have been discussing a deal with Cadillac which will see Checo return to th eF1 grid in 2026. Speaking on the Formula de 2 podcast, Jimmy Morales – director of racing team Escuderia Telmex, who sponsor Perez – confirmed talks are ongoing with Cadillac.

“We talked to everyone and started to see their plans and if they have any room for Checo,” said Morales. “The important thing is that he’s interested. It’s peace of mind, the ability to focus on your work. There are many things to consider in order to perform at your best. That’s what we’re looking for for Checo.”

Sergio’s final year with Red Bull was a huge disappointment with the Mexican scoring just once in the final eight weekends of the 2024 season. Yet as Liam Lawson is finding out, the F1 cars coming from Milton Keynes best suit their lead driver Max Verstappen as Pierre gaily and Alex Albon can all testify to.

Checo’s time at McLaren did not go as planned either, but his time spent driving for midfield teams marked him out as one of the best when limited by machinery. Cadillac will surely find themselves towards the back of the field on debut, so Perez makes perfect sense when compared to the likes of Valtteri Bottas or Kevin Magnussen.

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Marko mocked by Perez’ sponsor

Indeed its been confirmed that Bottas too has had conversations with newly appointed Cadillac F1 team boss, Graeme Lowden. His ex-team mate Zhou Guanyu who also been linked with the US team, along with the likes of Indycar driver Kyle Kirkwood.

Morales also reveals there was interest in Sergio from other teams but with Red Bull’s late decision meant, “they had already signed other drivers by then,” he also told the Formula de 2 podcast. For the first time Morales reveals how bad things at got for `check at Red Bull Racing.

“There are many interests at play. Whether it’s fair or not, the internal pressure and Red Bull’s advice… There are too many issues involved. Our driver didn’t feel comfortable anymore,” and presumably merely hung on for his contract payout.

It appears Dr. Helmut Marko was the not so silent assassin behind Checo’s departure, as Christian Horner for week after week held the party line that “we’re supporting Checo in every way we can.” Morales made the astonishing claim that Marko was maybe looking for revenge or self justification after claiming Sergio Perez wold never make it in Formula One.

“We already know Helmut Marko,” Morales continues. “He already had strong clashes with me when we were just in Formula 3. He said to me: ‘This driver is not going to make it’ And guess what? He even made it to the team that said he wasn’t going to make it. We gagged him like the big boys.”

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Liam Lawson given a ‘sacked’ warning

Liam Lawson has competed in Formula One over the past two seasons. Firstly as a stand in for the injured Daniel Ricciardo during the autumn of 2023 and then as the V-CARB’s full time driver for the last six races of last year following the sacking of ‘the honey badger.’

Whilst the New Zealand driver impressed when substituting for the Aussie in 2023, his performances against Tsunoda at the end of last season left a lot to be desired. He was beaten 6-0 in qualifying by his Japanese team mate and also outscored when it came to racing, yet Red Bull chose Lawson not Tsunoda as Sergio Perez’s replacement.

Yuki was riding high in Australia, ahead of Lawson in all three practice sessions then he qualified fifth whilst a number of driver errors meant Max’s new team mate failed to make it out of Q1 on Saturday… READ MORE