Sergio Perez called out for "audacious" move on Valtteri Bottas in China: "Not a good bit of driving"

Former Formula 1 driver Jolyon Palmer called out Sergio Perez after the Mexican driver pulled off an "audacious" move on his Cadillac team-mate Valtteri Bottas during the Chinese Grand Prix.

Cadillac joined F1 as the 11th team in 2026 with the experienced driver line-up of the former Red Bull and Mercedes drivers.

After Bottas and Perez started the Chinese Grand Prix from 19th and 21st on the grid, Palmer argued it was more important for the American outfit to have a clean race and almost treat it like a practice session to be able to gather data, rather than the intense intra-team battle which unfolded at Turn 3.

"It's so silly. Silly is generous," Palmer told F1 TV. "Cadillac just want to get to the end of a race. So why have you got one driver who's starting last, trying to do the most audacious move, 270° and pop it up halfway down the inside?

"Bottas is always going to be on the apex. He's got cars around him as well. They were lucky to get away from that, but I think that was really, really not a good bit of driving from Checo. They did get two cars to the finish in spite of it. So, he got away with it.

"But if somehow he's done some significant damage and they're both out of the race, I imagine the team would be absolutely seething because they're last. You're going to be last. Just treat it as a practice session.

Sergio Perez, Cadillac Racing, Valtteri Bottas, Cadillac Racing

Photo by: James Sutton / Formula 1 / Formula Motorsport Ltd via Getty Images

"Not everyone needs to do a Carlos [Sainz] and a Fernando Alonso and get up to the top 10 on the first lap. I know they're all trying to do something special, but Cadillac need miles. So, damaging the car, even if you damage the front wing, you're losing data on what your intact front wing can do."

When asked if Perez might not have realised it was his team-mate he was fighting against, Palmer doubled down on the criticism. 

"If it's not his team-mate, it's still not a good bit of driving. It's just worse the fact that it's his team-mate."