Sergio Perez: "I have nothing to prove" with Cadillac after Red Bull F1 exit

Sergio Perez says the struggles of his Red Bull replacements show that he has nothing to prove on his Formula 1 return with Cadillac.

On Tuesday, Perez and fellow F1 veteran and multiple race winner Valtteri Bottas were presented as the experience pair that will lead Cadillac's charge in 2026 as F1's 11th team. The news means the 35-year-old Mexican will return to the grid after an enforced one-year break.

At the end of 2024, just half a year after earning a contract extension, Perez's continued struggles with Red Bull's tricky 2024 car led to the team paying off his contract, instead promoting first Liam Lawson and then Yuki Tsunoda to the difficult seat next to Max Verstappen.

Coming back into the series in a brand-new environment, six-time grand prix winner Perez says he will have "nothing to prove" after his character-building Red Bull departure given the tough circumstances that have plagued his successors in the seat even more.

"I feel like there's nothing to prove. Not just because of the current drivers or the next drivers that were in my seat but even before that," he said. "Now everyone forgets about it, but it's been a very tricky place to be in, to constantly be adapting, to build confidence mentally. It's a very unique challenge.

"I don't think I have anything to prove when you see the amount of points they've scored. It's like five points in the entire season [seven points, actually].

Yuki Tsunoda, Red Bull Racing Team

Photo by: Zak Mauger / LAT Images via Getty Images

"To me, it's more of a comeback to enjoy the sport. I want to enjoy 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'm coming back with this new project. I hope it's a very successful one. But amongst that, more than anything, I want to enjoy this comeback."

Perez admitted that the difficult circumstances around his Red Bull exit, with no guarantees over ever making it back onto an F1 starting grid, meant it was important for him to take a long break from competition and mentally disconnect before embarking on a fresh challenge with the American team.

"For me, it was very important to have this time off the sport, especially because it only became clear towards the end of the year that I was not going to continue with Red Bull," he revealed. "So, instead of jumping into something just for staying on the grid, I needed that time to disconnect from the sport and to understand what I really want next in my career.

"It wasn't very clear for me in the beginning, especially the first couple of months, what I wanted to do next. The more I was talking to the Cadillac team, the more it became apparent that this is what excites me to go back. It's just not going back to the grid with a regular team to fight for podiums and races and points. This is a whole project. The dynamic, I feel, is different."

Valtteri Bottas, Sergio Perez, Cadillac

Photo by: Cadillac Communications

When asked what he learned from his time away, he replied: "I learned about myself as a driver. I've been in the spotlight for my entire career – not just in Formula 1, even from the karting days. You realise that once you step back and look at the sport as a fan, things that racing drivers worry about are totally irrelevant to the public aspect, even to the people that know the sport. My vision now, coming back to the sport, is to enjoy it and give the maximum every single time I'm in the car, working with the team, that's really what matters. All the rest are external factors."

That will also make it easier for Perez to accept starting at the back of the grid, which will be a likely scenario in year one of Cadillac's fledgling F1 adventure under the new 2026 rules. "Sometimes if your car is competitive, you make it to the podium, but sometimes you've done a tremendous race and you finish P15," he pointed out. "The driver that finishes P15, knowing that [he] has done the maximum together with the team and that they are progressing, that should be something to feel proud of, watching the sport from the outside."