Perez praises Cadillac's perfromance step but is still 'impatient with the operational side'

Sergio Perez says Cadillac made a massive step forward at the Canadian Grand Prix from a performance point of view, but is lacking operationally.

Cadillac has introduced upgrades to its car at the last two races and Perez in particular has been able to fight with other cars aside from the Aston Martins at times, including in Sunday’s race in Montreal. However, while running in the midfield Perez suffered a suspension failure and he says it highlights how Cadillac is struggling to put together clean weekends at present.

“It was going well,” Perez said. “We got wrong, obviously, at the start with the inter [tire]. And we were recovering. We were back in contention. We were ahead of the Haas. We were battling Esteban when we were getting lapped. We had some good pace, but unfortunately, we had a suspension failure and we had to retire.

“I think it's something that we have to understand and get on top of because it's not ideal what is happening and what has happened. It's something we need to investigate and hopefully get on top of because it's not ideal.

“I think operationally we are still lacking a lot and we are not making the progress we are making in terms of performance. So we have to be able to maximize the car performance at the moment.”

When pushed on his patience relating to the progress being made by Formula 1’s newest team, Perez admits he wants to see the team’s trackside work tidied up more quickly.

“I'm impatient at the moment with the operational side,” he said. “I think it's something that we have to improve and we are in a massive hurry because we are not maximizing the results. Like [in the race] for example, like in qualifying we had again issues operationally.

“So in that regard I think we are making progress on performance which is very positive, but on the operational side it's something that we are lacking tremendously and we have to really find our way for the European season now.”

Although calling for more from Cadillac operationally, Perez says he is pleased with how quickly he has found his rhythm on his return to F1 after a season on the sidelines in 2025.

“I'm very happy with my performances, with my level of driving,” he said. “I'm happy I came back and proved to myself that I'm one of the best out there. So that to me is really nice and I'm very happy with the level of driving I'm doing.”