Sergio Perez tests Ferrari F1 car at Imola but iconic feature is missing

Sergio Perez has returned to F1 machinery with Ferrari as part of Cadillac’s preparations for the 2026 season.

The Mexican driver and Valtteri Bottas will complete Cadillac’s first ever F1 lineup next season, with the team undergoing their first in-person track session at Imola on Wednesday.

Cadillac do not have a current regulation car to test, so Perez had to jump into Ferrari’s SF-23 with the team conducting a deal with their power unit supplier to get some real life experience rather than relying on simulations.

Footage showed Perez driving around Imola, albeit with an iconic feature of Ferrari’s missing with the livery stripped of its usual red allure and instead reduced to a stripped back black carbon fibre.

Around 30 Ferrari team members assisted the 20 Cadillac members on the ground at Imola, with team principal Graeme Lowdon revealing that the test was more about simulating a trackside environment for the team’s personnel than testing a car.

Why are Cadillac testing at Imola?

Speaking to Autosport during the test, Lowdon delved further into the aims of the Imola test and why such a gathering of Cadillac’s staff is important ahead of their entry in 2026.

"Actually, current team testing is kind of what we're interested in. We want to use a car, because in all of the simulations that we mentioned, we try and make it as real to life as possible," Lowdon explained.

"I think everyone gets a little bit wrongly concerned, that in some way we can get an advantage by testing someone else's car or something. But we're not testing the car, we're testing the people.

"Yes, we are looking to gain the advantage, but not from anything to do with the car. The advantages that we want is for our mechanics to have the same experience that all the mechanics in this pitlane are having every day working with each car."

He added: "You have to get the mechanics used to that muscle memory of operating an F1 car. You have to be able to stick tyre blankets on, and then there's just the size of a car and the heat that comes off one, and the presence that they have."

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