Sergio Perez: bouncing back with Cadillac

0:00Cadillac has entered Formula One, deepening the racing pedigree behind every V-Series on the road. Discover a line-up that delivers pure adrenaline in the form of modern luxury. Experience the quickest Cadillac ever, the all-electric Lyric V, the peak performance of the CT5V Blackwing, the nimble agility of the Optic V and the legendary roar of the Escalade V, all engineered to thrill. Find out more about Cadillac's performance story in Formula One and our race-tested V-Series line-up at cadillac.com. I think it was really demanding my last six months at Red Bull mentally because I knew what I was going through and how I was being looked at and I knew the amount of effort I was putting in.

0:53Sergio Perez, sixth time, he's out in Q1 this year. But it's been not tough. Yeah, unbelievable. It just doesn't get any better. It's not the way I want to live the sport because it's a sport I love. Welcome to Formula One Cadillac, a distinctive livery and Formula One's 11th team. I had the contract for a few days already and I was just thinking, shall I do it or shall I not? I really feel like I'm part of this project, of this new era. Of course, I want to win championships and be fighting at the front. But if you don't have that opportunity, Cadillac, it's something that motivates me a lot, you know, because it's building a team from scratch.

1:32Starting basically from last to see how far we can go together. When you think back to that young guy who made his debut in 2011 with Sauber, what advice would you give that guy now? Enjoy it more.

1:53Welcome, everybody, to this week's F1 Beyond the Grid. I'm delighted to say that we're joined by Checo Perez, Cadillac F1 driver. How are you? I'm good. You look well. Just getting back. Well, you look like a man who's enjoyed the summer break. Yeah, I had a good time. Can't complain. Really, really happy. I was in Colorado for a bit and then back in Mexico at the beach. So it was really, really enjoyable. Colorado. You like the mountains? Yeah, I love it. I love it. I love it there. Can you tell us where you went? Vail, Colorado, in the mountains. A lot of activities. I love doing activities all the time, you know, riding bikes, running, hiking, all that sort of stuff.

2:38And the kids were with you? Yeah, yeah, they were with me. They kept me pretty busy, pretty sharp. That's very demanding, a lot of training. Are any of them karting now? My oldest, my oldest is my younger. We go every weekend when I'm with them. We go to the track and do some laps here and there. Is he a chip off the old block? He has talent, but like everything, you know, it's how much effort he puts in. He's too busy at the same time with tennis, with football. You know, he's just doing a lot of sports at the moment, which is great. You know, I love them, that they do a lot of sport. You have to specialize at some point, don't you, if you're going to be a professional?

3:18I agree. yeah there's a crucial point you know and i need it is it needs to come early how old is he uh it's nine about now really yeah about now about now nine look jago what about you were you able to completely switch off from formula one during the break so so you know there's always a lot of work going behind the scenes you know in in terms of uh you know especially being with a new team with always in contact with my engineers, with the whole people around me. And mentally, you know, I remember when I was off Formula One, you can really like switch off and you don't worry about what you eat and that sort of stuff.

4:02When you're in Formula One, you're always like the back of your mind is conscious on what you're eating, what you're taking, if you didn't train the day after and that sort of thing. So although you can disconnect a bit, like I'll say 80 % of your brain still is thinking as if you are a Formula One driver. It's there tapping you on the shoulder the whole time isn't it? Yeah yeah exactly. Reminding you. Because you know that when you come back straight away you know you you are back into it and I'm really happy you know really happy to be back. Now the new cycle never stops and I guess you were partly having to deal with what I'm about to ask you about.

4:39Marcin Budkovsky has come in as team principal here at Cadillac. What's your reaction to that? It's great. You know, it's a great addition to the team. I think he's extremely hungry for it. And I think it's really someone that can take the team to the next level. And I really trust him. I think there's a lot of trust in him from GM, from Dan. Everyone really putting a lot of trust in him. So looking forward to it. At the same time, obviously, Graham is extremely grateful to do what he has achieved, putting all this team together and putting us into the grid, together with obviously a lot of effort from GM and Dan on making it happen.

5:29But yeah, I mean, at the end of the day, this is Formula One and this is how it works. Do you think teams need different bosses at different stages of their evolution? definitely it's like teams they need different drivers at certain times and at the end of the day formula one it's a team sport but it's all about performance you know and you can see with cadillac you know we although we are a new team and i think what we've done is tremendous amount of of a good job you know by putting a team together and so on we've been close in certain occasions to have points here or there. Cadillac shows that it's not a team just to be on the grid and they want to move forwards.

6:14So Graham was the perfect guy to get you on the grid. And now a guy with an engineering background, Marcin, is the guy to take you to the next level. Is that what we're saying? I think that's in the back. I mean, you have to ask, obviously, the people that have taken the decision. At the end of the day, I'm just a driver here. But I think it sounds logical. I think Graham has done a tremendous job on putting this team together. But at the same time, I think in everything, Cadillac is looking at ways on how we're going to be moving forwards, whether that's a team principal, a mechanic, engineer, driver, whatever.

6:53It's logical. I think they wouldn't be doing a good job if they were not looking at how to improve and how to move this thing forwards. Checo, you say I'm just a driver, but are you more than that here? Was that one of the appeals of coming to Cadillac? Yeah, definitely. I really feel like this is a project. And I really feel like I'm part of this project, of this new era, like building something from scratch. Of course, I want to win championships and be fighting at the front. But if you don't have that opportunity, I think Cadillac, it's something that motivates me a lot, you know, because it's like building a team from scratch and starting basically from last to see how far we can go together.

7:37And like you say, you know, I feel like here I'm much more than a driver. At the same time, they listen a lot to me on different things, on development and stuff. And only a few drivers can get that in their careers, you know, and it's the first time I can have this. you said in in Hungary at the last race we're speaking in Zandvoort that we need to change our processes I mean that's I suppose what you're talking about right on everything I think the last few races have been a disappointment there's a lot of disappointment because we haven't been developing we haven't been improving and us being a new team is what we should be doing you know like every time so I felt like there was a bit of a stalling in the last few races and and that's why yeah we had to review on things how we were doing everything you know obviously being a new team there's a lot of things that we are constantly learning the team has been pulling up trees to get where it has right think it only got its entry a year out yeah and you make it not only to melbourne but you know you're there at pre-season testing you're getting the job done at what point for you did the novelty of this being a new team a new project wear off and and the competitor in you start thinking i need performance i think as soon as i did you sign up basically i think because this is formula one you know and and we grew up with the engine or on our back you know and we are constantly pushing we're constantly pushing boundaries because i think if you don't have that fire in you as a driver or as a guy who works in formula one then this is not the job there's a lot of other jobs you know and maybe it's i mean life is great outside formula one but if you are in formula one you have to have this this will on on improving on constant searching for for improvements and and you can never lie back in in formula one i mean when you had your what should we call it gap year last year did you ever want to turn your back on formula one and go and do something completely different or from day one was it i've got to get back no no no no i think it was really um demanding my last six months i'll say at red bull and uh at the sport mentally because i knew what i was going through and and how i i was being looked at and and i knew the amount of effort I was putting in and the circumstances I was in.

10:08So I said, look, I've been very fortunate to have the career I've had. So maybe it's time to look at something else. I believe that, I mean, there's a lot of life out of the sport, especially I realized that after my year out. And then when I was looking at, I felt like, you know, it's not the way I want to live the sport because it's a sport I love. And I feel like when I look back in 20 years time I might regret leaving the sport like this so then the opportunity with Cadillac was coming up and I met obviously Dan and GM and so I mean this project and this brand is really appealing and this is something I want to do because I can be part of a project you know and to do it with all the resources everything in place with such competitive people around me I think it's going to be an enjoyable circle and also working with Khalil, my manager.

11:07You know, he's one of my best friends. And then we ended up together working, you know, him doing my management. And it was all of a sudden it became a very enjoyable entourage, I'll say. We're speaking at Zanvoort and it was over this race weekend last year that you signed for the team, wasn't it? I'm told anyway. it must be around I'm not sure if it's really well that's what they told me it must be around this time but you weren't here in the Netherlands where were you when you signed? I was at Punta Mita at my house at the beach yeah I remember when I had the contract for a few days already and I was just thinking shall I do it or shall I not you know because once you have it there in front of you i wasn't you know too sure about it at the time what were the reservations was it the commitment that you need yeah i knew i know that you know when you when you sign up for this job it's 24 7 and i know myself how intense i am and i knew that if i commit to this it's going to be full on you know and 24 7 and with with my kids getting into certain ages I was having a great time with my family and you know as a human being I feel it's normal to have these doubts on whether you commit to something Formula 1 is very demanding it's a sport that you live a lot of the year and you live your family, your place I think if I didn't have family it's a lot easier to make decisions but for me family is everything and that's my number one priority what did carola say what did your wife say she was she was very supportive and she really wanted me to keep fighting and and to leave the sport in in much better terms and than what happened a year ago and it sounds like you're gonna have a racing career to pay for as well your son you're gonna do it sounds like the next few years could get expensive right so you gotta keep working.

13:23I gotta make it up, right? Yes. Yeah. I mean, who knows? Who knows what happens next? But exactly. You never know who you're working for. So no, but I think as an athlete, it's very important to maximize your career. You're a long time retired, right? Yeah, yeah, exactly. And yeah, you gotta maximize all your opportunities while you can. I get what you're saying about not wanting to leave Formula One the way that 2024 ended but did you look at doing other race series last yes i i thought like you know once i know what's happening with formula one with my formula one future once it's closer it's closed or open then i look at something else but i didn't want to do anything else because i wanted to keep that muscle memory from formula one so when i jump back in the in the car it was formula one you know all what i know it's formula one so that's why i didn't want to do i did some karting just to keep in shape and and so on and then i did some ferrari i did a ferrari test later in the year two days in imula and straight away that was after you'd signed yeah that was after i signed and and how did that feel after a year away i was quite surprised you know like between a couple of runs, I was already up in the pace, you know, so I was quite surprised.

14:47How was the neck? It was quite good. I did quite a bit of training for it. And it was, I mean, we've done this for so long, you know, like you see with drivers that they stop for a lot of months and they get back and within two practice sessions, they're back to it, you know, because we've done it for so long. This is all we know. and it's a lot of muscle memory in it. So I was happy I didn't do anything else. I had a good time. I was able to disconnect from the sport. I was very busy as well with different projects I have out of Formula One and with my family. I was able to visit Africa twice.

15:30Where did you go? I went to Kenya, all that part, and then I went to South Africa the second time. I loved Africa. I can't wait to get back there. Cadillac has entered Formula One, deepening the racing pedigree behind every V-series on the road. Discover a line-up that delivers pure adrenaline in the form of modern luxury. Experience the quickest Cadillac ever, the all-electric Lyric V, the peak performance of the CT5V Blackwing, the nimble agility of the Optic V, and the legendary roar of the Escalade V, all engineered to thrill. Find out more about Cadillac's performance story in Formula One and our race-tested V-Series lineup at cadillac.com.

16:22Cadillac has entered Formula One, deepening the racing pedigree behind every V-Series on the road. Discover a lineup that delivers pure adrenaline in the form of modern luxury. Experience the quickest Cadillac ever, the all-electric Lyric V The peak performance of the CT5V Blackwing The nimble agility of the Optic V And the legendary roar of the Escalade V All engineered to thrill Find out more about Cadillac's performance story in Formula 1 And our race-tested V-Series line-up at Cadillac.com

17:10Checo, that whole year, I get that you were talking to these guys and on the phone to Dan Tauris and everyone, but it must have been the first time that you've stopped, paused as an adult, right? Since you went to Germany age 14. Yeah, well, basically not just when I went to Germany, since I was doing karting. You know, you are constantly on the road, constantly thinking what's next and then all of a sudden there's a break you know and and I think it's I mean I was very fortunate to be able to have that you know and to look from the outside and have that perspective on what you want to do next you know because I know that it's towards the end of my of my career what I do next so it was a very important time for me and for myself fun for my family how long did you not even think about formula one was there a period of months where you just disconnected completely yeah for the entire i think two months or three months i started realizing that i missed formula one when the season started and i was like waking up for the to see the races you did watch yeah yeah most of it most of them like if i was in africa i will follow up and i was chatting to my to my friends that i have in the paddock i i was i i basically kept in touch with everything and i knew what was going on and and all that sort of thing so i that's when i realized you know like i still miss the sport yeah and then what was top of your to-do list away from racing was it the trips to africa yeah uh and then to find myself you know i think as an athlete, you always have that on the back of the mind.

18:55How is life after you finish what you've done, what you know, you know, because for us, the easiest thing will be just to carry on doing something else in this world, a world that we all feel very comfortable with. But I always want to do something else, something different and challenge myself. I love businesses away from Formula One and do different things, learning on new different areas. I was pretty busy, you know, with a lot of projects. Because you have the foundation as well. I have my foundation as well. I was able to put my foundation and like to put the whole team around me that I have with my family office to make sure that everything is running a little bit more smoothly.

19:43and with like you have to take a lot of leadership in a lot of things so that requires a lot of time so I was pretty busy with that and then once I knew I was back into Formula One with a Formula One contract and into the simulators and that sort of thing. So you signed in August but when did the discussions with Cadillac start? The discussions were already February, March. As early as that? Yeah, but they didn't know if they were going to get the license at the time. So it was like a bit... But as soon as they got it in March? Yeah, as soon as they got the license and things start rolling. So you didn't get that much time to experience life away from F1, really?

20:30No, I think so. I think I did got enough time to, like, I'll say a good three, four months, you know, because especially in the beginning, those discussions were done through Khalil. So I was always in the background doing my own stuff and looking at my perspective and the thing I wanted to look at and trying to put everything in place. And then doing a few travellings. How does life look outside this paddock? Because we've all, anyone who's been here for a while, has been institutionalised by Formula One. How does it look? I haven't had that gap here. It's really nice. There's a great life out of Formula One.

21:13You know, I think this is our passion and it's really hard to find this passion outside, you know, but there is, if you find something you do, you like, I think it's very important. You find something that you like and that takes your brain away from here and motivates you to do something else. You know, like in my position, I'm very fortunate. I have that, you know, with my foundation. It really motivates me, you know, to do that sort of things and be able to help other people and to raise funds. And then on the other side, like to look after my funds and making sure I take the right decisions with my money and being able to be taking those decisions and being upfront.

22:02you know i i believe that you have to to lead your decisions and don't let them to anyone take them for you so you have to be up front so in terms of investments and things like that you're leading the charge on that oh yeah definitely 100 i i take every decision i have a great team around me but i i learn on on what i'm investing on what what comes up what i'm doing how i'm how i'm invested it's um it's something i like a lot as well you know i enjoy do you know what the footsie is doing right now what the the footsie for example what's the footsie 100 the the big i follow more the the u.s market okay yeah but you do right i do i do 100 i follow up i believe that it's really important it's like in formula one you cannot let people take the decisions for you and tell you how you're doing you should know it yourself how you're doing how like i believe like Like as an athlete or as a human being, you should have a great team around you, but you should be the one taking your decisions and knowing what sort of risk you want to take, what sort of reward you would like to have.

23:11And then don't let everyone... Because if it goes right, then everyone is a genius. But if it goes wrong, then you know what went wrong exactly. And that's something I just enjoyed a lot. I had a lot of fun with that. I was able to meet a lot of good people as well, you know, out of this business. And not everyone is like in Formula One. That's something you also have to like, it took me a bit of a while. What do you mean by that? Yeah, in Formula One, like everything, it's about like what they can get from you if you are useful to someone or you're useless. Like there's nothing in the middle.

23:49and in outside of this world there's a lot of good people a lot of will to help to a lot of patients you know like if you do something there's a lot of patients long-term patients and so on and here everything is quick and and you're useful or useless and then they move on quickly and the outside world is not like that and and there's also there's great you know that like Like being able to enjoy your family for more than a month or your friends, being able to catch up with them in a relaxed way, not thinking what's coming next. I think that's just what life is for, you know. So my advice is just to enjoy it as much as you can, you know, because it is not forever.

24:34These carries for us are not forever. But don't be bothered. You know, I think a lot of people in this paddock are worried that when this finishes, what's next? and there's a massive life out there. And your teammate even has What's Next written tattooed on his neck. Exactly, you know. He's the most What's Next guy I've known. Final thoughts on the gap year. Tell us more about Africa. What animals did you enjoy seeing the most? Africa is beautiful. More than the animals, the culture, how happy the people are over there. It's really nice. And seeing the animals, I've seen everything. like from uh from snakes to lions eating uh zebra or hyenas catching up trying to beat the lions and you see how everyone's are acting you know like all the different animals and

25:32there's a lot of hyenas and i guess what all that did for you is you fell back in love with formula one i remember Daniel Ricciardo telling me that when it all came to an end at McLaren what he wanted to do was try and remember why he fell in love with this sport in the first place were you on a similar journey yes yes I was I was similar because sometimes you you forget the sport when you get to Formula One becomes more of a I don't know a company you become more of a company and then all the fun you used to have it's more related to a company and it's always good to sit back and remember i mean although this is a business is what we love to do and this is what like driving every sunday and competing when qualifying and trying to get the maximum and trying to be as fit as possible and that sort of of life that you have as a formula driver it's it's it's great and we we love it you know and and we even get paid for it so it's it's it's a great job to have and how is the motivation dealing with being at the back as opposed to you know last time you were in Formula One you were even in that difficult 2024 season you were finishing on the podium yeah um not too too bad to be honest because you're still at Formula One you're still at the pinnacle of the sport you're still working with the best engineers in the world with you are competing against the best drivers of Although you are far from them, for example, my teammate is Valtteri.

27:08He's one of the most successful guys in the current grid. He's one of the fastest out there. So to keep up the challenge with him, it's that sort of motivation. You know, although we might be fighting for no points at some point and so on, like you're still talking to the same language, to the engineers, to the tire group, everything. I mean, it's crazy, but it doesn't matter if you are fighting for the championship or you're fighting for P18. The language is very similar, you know, and all it takes is a couple of seconds can change your life a lot, you know, on development. So you can be like, so with us and Martin, they were fighting with us one week before.

27:50And then in Hungary, they made a massive jump and probably in two, three months time they're fighting at the front. And they're talking the same language. So that was something I thought, you know, like when I was coming back, like the motivation is not going to be there because I will be fighting at the back. But it hasn't been the case. You know, I'm I'm very happy that I'm still in Formula One, like talking the same language to my to my people around me. You talk about the progress at Aston Martin, right? And how earlier in our conversation you were saying that maybe you'd stalled here in the races leading up to the summer break.

28:23But if you took this car back to Bahrain now, how much quicker would you be? I mean significantly? Not enough. I don't think we have improved as much as we hoped for. I would say obviously everyone. I don't know, a second, but probably we were looking for two seconds. But yeah, the most important is we understand and we look at our processes, why it hasn't come that second, why we haven't improved in all those different areas. areas because it's not only one thing you know being a new team there's a lot of things that are in there that and i can see them you know if we if we improve our load our ride a lot of things all of a sudden you know we are not that far we are we are at the back but half a second one second will change our life completely at this stage you know and and i feel like for us being a new team it's it's in there it's possible you talk about increasing load the fact that Marcin is an aerodynamicist by trade in fact I think he was head of aero at McLaren in 2013 when when you were at that team but do you think Marcin can help improve that or is that not his job as team principal I think it's that's his his job you know he will be I would say responsible as well to put the people in place that he believes are the best you know with what we can get as Cadillac and try to motivate the best people in the paddock to come to this project because it's great to be part of something new, you know, like if, I don't know, if you go to a top team and you do things well, like it's not you.

30:08But if you come to Cadillac and all of a sudden you transform the team, people will look at you a lot, you know, and you will be remembered forever. So I think there's a lot of appetite out there for a lot of good people to come into Cadillac. Checo, what we were talking about earlier, about you being more than just a driver, I'm reminded how David Coulthard was the guy responsible, really, for getting Adrian Newey to go to Red Bull. And are you seeing yourself in that role? Are you on the telephone to people you've worked with in the past saying, come on, come and join us? I mean, I know I obviously know a lot of good people out there.

30:49You know, I've been in this paddock for a long time. Yeah, I've been trying to get a few people, of course. But at the end of the day, you have to also know your position. And I am not the one that takes those decisions on who I bring and who I hire. It is not my role. But I obviously try to influence and try to tell the team, I mean, I think this guy will be good. if he comes and so on. All I can see is that the appetite for Cadillac around the paddock is racing every time. And that's something good to have, you know, as a Formula 1 team. Cadillac has entered Formula 1, deepening the racing pedigree behind every V-Series on the road.

31:33Discover a line-up that delivers pure adrenaline in the form of modern luxury. Experience the quickest Cadillac ever, the all-electric Lyric V, the peak performance of the CT5V Blackwing, the nimble agility of the optic V, and the legendary roar of the Escalade V, all engineered to thrill. Find out more about Cadillac's performance story in Formula One and our race-tested V-Series lineup at cadillac.com. Cadillac has entered Formula One, deepening the racing pedigree behind every V-Series on the road. Discover a line-up that delivers pure adrenaline in the form of modern luxury. Experience the quickest Cadillac ever, the all-electric Lyric V, the peak performance of the CT5V Blackwing, the nimble agility of the Optic V, and the legendary roar of the Escalade V.

32:32All engineered to thrill Find out more about Cadillac's performance story in Formula 1 And our race-tested V-Series line-up at Cadillac.com

32:52So let's throw it forward First of all, second half of 2026 What do you want to see this team achieve in the next 12 races? I think progress. I want to see more progress, closing out the gap. Closing up the gap to? To the teams ahead of us. I don't know who's ahead at the moment. I don't know if it's Williams. Aston seems to have. Be part of the midfield conversation, is that? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Be part and be able to mix with them more in the races. Being able to close that gap will only allow us to start next year in a much better shape. and that's something I want to see. Obviously, I'm looking forward to work with Marcin, see his leadership.

33:41I think there's a lot of room for improvement, not just on performance, you know, operationally, pit stops, strategy, tires. You know, like there's so much still. It's only our 10th, 11th race in our history. So there's a lot of things, but I want to see much more progress closing out the gap and then I think that will give us a massive boost to start next year. And how do you feel about the way Cadillac has set itself up with bases in America more and more of the team is migrating over there they're doing things differently do you believe in that system? I do, I do believe because you know I mean GM it's a manufacturer that has done motorsport for their entire career and the level of competitiveness in the u.s it's extremely high i mean they they've been very helpful in a lot of ways we've been able to learn stuff from them i think as a team we have to be open you know there's a lot we can we can learn from other series other ways of doing things for example mclaren was able to get advantage from their indycar team a few years ago, you know, with how they were treating the ride and stuff like that.

34:58So there's always room to improve and learn things. I think as long as you have your mechanism very clear and you are able to deliver the idea quickly to the track, then that's positive. And what about you in 27? I mean, Max Verstappen's committed, Both Williams drivers have committed as well to their futures. What about Checo? Yeah, well, for me, nothing has changed. Of course, we've had conversations with other teams and here and there. A few teams have been calling and stuff, but for me, nothing has changed. I see this as my project and I want to be part of Cadillac. In 27 and beyond? Yes, yes.

35:47I really believe. I don't think this is a one-year project. You know, I think this is a long-term project that I want to be part of. Obviously, there will be some discussions, but this is what I want to be, and nothing has changed from my side. And Mexico this year is going to be, well, it's always a massive party, right? That's the nature of the race. But for you personally, you're going to be celebrating your 300th Grand Prix at home. It's crazy, yeah. I had no idea. I had no idea that it was happening. I was working on my helmet the other day for Mexico and all of a sudden they brought up that it was my 300th race in Mexico, you know, because of the cancelled races and so on.

36:29It's crazy. I mean, 300 races in Formula One and to celebrate them at home will be a special event. I mean, Checo, when you think back to that young guy who made his debut in 2011 with Sauber, do you recognize that guy? are you a completely different person now what advice would you give that guy now? Yeah, it's a good question I would just say, you know enjoy it more enjoy it more because when you come to Formula 1 there's a lot of pressure in you I mean and you tend to forget you get drawn into that amount of pressure that there is and you are always just thinking of performance on everything you do on your physical side, on what you eat, on what you talk to the team and so on.