Sergio Perez says that the struggles that second drivers have experienced at Red Bull Show, he has nothing to prove on his return to Formula 1 with Cadillac.
Cadillac has announced that The first arrangement of the driver will consist of Perez and Valtteri Bottas When it comes to the grid in 2026 and brings two drivers together with a combined 16 wins and 527 Race Starts. While Bottas has been with Mercedes this year as a reserve driver, Perez returns after he fell by Red Bull at the end of last season, while the two drivers to follow him – Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda – also struggled.
“I don’t feel that there is anything to prove, not only because of the current drivers or the next drivers who were in my chair, but even before,” said Perez. “Now everyone forgets, but it has been a very difficult place to be in, to constantly adapt to build mental confidence.
“It is a very unique challenge. And I don’t think I have something to prove, if you see the amount of points they have scored, it is like five points in the entire season. So I don’t think I have something to prove in that respect.
“For me it is more … Coming back to enjoy the sport. I want to enjoy the sport, the sport that I love, the sport that has given me so much. I couldn’t afford to leave the way I left the sport, and this is why I come back with this new project. I hope it is a very successful, but under what, more than whatever, I want to enjoy this comfort.”
Perez was not involved in Formula 1 this season and says that the break was needed to help him discover what would tempt him to return, with reference to the unique challenge of Cadillac’s new entry as a particularly motivating.
“For me it was very important to have this free time of the sport, especially because it only became clear towards the end of the year that I would not continue with Red Bull. So instead of jumping in something, I only needed that time. That time back to disconnect myself from the sport and understand what I really want in my career.
“In the beginning it was not very clear to me, especially the first few months, what I wanted to do afterwards. And the more I spoke with the Cadillac team, the more it became clear that this fascinates me to come back, it is the project itself. It is not just back to the grid with a regular team to fight for podiums and races and races.
“And I realized that I enjoy training! I always thought I hated it. But this time I got away, it realized that I really enjoy training. So I was in the same fit [shape]. It is clear that I have not driven anything else for a while than to map my son. But there are some plans with the team to test a Formula 1 car before the end of the year.
“And clearly next year with so many tests that we are going to have, it will make substance disappear extremely quickly. I know what Formula 1 is about and I will be ready to deliver from the first race.”
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