Sergio Perez reveals Cadillac F1 ‘massive hurry’ amid Aston Martin threat

Sergio Perez confirmed a “massive hurry” at Cadillac F1 to add performance to its car, considering what could be to come from Aston Martin.

After a disappointing start to F1 2026, Aston Martin has snubbed smaller updates, and are instead believed to be working on a package designed to transform the struggling AMR26 challenger. Aston Martin’s current rival, F1 newcomers Cadillac, do not want to be left behind.

Sergio Perez warns Cadillac will need to respond to Aston Martin

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Cadillac and Aston Martin have been in a battle behind the midfield early in F1 2026.

Currently, it is advantage Cadillac. By virtue of Valtteri Bottas’ P13 in China, Cadillac sits 10th in the Constructors’ standings ahead of Aston Martin.

Fernando Alonso has confirmed that Aston Martin has “no upgrades until after summer.”

Still, Perez says there is feeling of being in a race against time at Cadillac. The American squad introduced its first package for the MAC-26 in Miami, and more upgrades are expected for Montreal.

“I can see at times, as soon as the degradation starts to kick enough, we can be with the midfield, but they are just able to pick up the pace quite a lot,” Perez told PlanetF1.com and other accredited media following the Miami Grand Prix.

“Still a long season, but obviously we are in a massive hurry to find performance, because we know Aston is going to be improving, and we don’t want to be left behind.”

Asked how important of a motivation it is for Cadillac to have a team which it can compete with and aim for, Perez confirmed: “Definitely it’s a great motivation.

“But not only them, it’s just about improving ourselves, weekend after weekend, in all areas.”

Bottas believes that Cadillac’s Miami upgrades “generally worked”, but with the team still “new at designing stuff, making it, bringing it to the track, optimising it,” naturally this is a process which is still being refined.

Bottas said that not all areas where Cadillac are gaining ground are necessarily visible to the public eye, as the 10-time grand prix winner stated hope for another step forward at the Canadian Grand Prix.

“I think there’s many hidden areas where we are improving,” Bottas told PlanetF1.com and others in Miami.

“Maybe the pace sometimes it seemed a bit better this weekend, sometimes not.

“I think the upgrades worked. Still not every part is the same that we put in the car. So there’s a bit of lack of consistency in there.

“But overall, it’s getting better. Hopefully we’ll make another step in Montreal.”

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Bottas concluded that “high-speed corners” remain the weakness for Cadillac, so hopes that the slower corners of Montreal, and the shorter lap, will work in Cadillac’s favour.

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