Sergio Perez takes to the track with Cadillac - but there's a twist

Cadillac F1 star Sergio Perez has started his preparations for the 2026 season.

New outfit Cadillac have signed former Red Bull driver Perez and former Mercedes racer Valtteri Bottas to their team for their first season in the sport in 2026, with the American outfit entering as the 11th team on the grid.

The pair have 16 race wins between them in their careers and boast a plethora of experience at the highest level, but team principal Graeme Lowdon has still admitted that he expects the team to be running last of the 11 outfits in their first season.

Now, Perez has been filmed in the simulator at Cadillac's state-of-the-art facility at Silverstone preparing for the new season, taking to the 'car' for the first time.

In a video posted on the team's Instagram account, Perez can be seen working hard with Lowdon, Dan Towriss and other Cadillac F1 team members watching his progress.

The post, which also featured lots of photos of Perez with his new team was captioned: "Charlotte to Silverstone. Great to see you, Checo."

Perez has been out of a full-time seat in F1 since the end of the 2024 season, when he was axed by Red Bull following some disappointing results across the season.

How prepared are Cadillac for F1?

For the first two seasons of their venture into F1, Cadillac will be using Ferrari engines, after signing a partnership with the most successful F1 outfit of all time.

Cadillac started work on their 2026 car last year, before their entry was confirmed and when they realised they would not be granted entry for 2025.

The team have four bases overall: Silverstone (where the race team and chassis designers will operate), Fishers, Indiana (the team’s headquarters and responsible for their car manufacturing), Warren, Michigan (the location of the General Motors Technical Centre) and Charlotte, North Carolina (where General Motors will develop of their power unit).

Despite the extensive preparation for 2026, Cadillac have set their expectations low and prepare to be last next year, with team principal Lowdon sharing their expectations.

"In talking with our shareholders, we have discussions about what expectations should be," Lowdon said at Goodwood.

"The easiest way I can describe it to them is to imagine if you own a Formula 1 team for 10 years, and then another team rocks up and beats you. You would be apoplectic; you would be so annoyed.

"So, you have to assume any new team coming in is going to be last, otherwise something's gone wrong somewhere else. And to a large extent, that's the only way you can set the frame."

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Sam Cook - Digital Journalist

Sam Cook is a talented young sports journalist and social media professional who now specialises in Formula 1, having previously worked as a football journalist and a local news reporter for a variety of different brands.

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