Sergio Pérez has responded to the statements of Cadillac top advisor Mario Andretti, who claimed that both he and teammate Valtteri Bottas would be ‘rusty’ after a year outside Formula 1. Both drivers were inactive in 2025 after their departures from Red Bull and Sauber respectively, but returned this year with the new Cadillac team. According to Pérez, he was back in top form shortly after his return.
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Andretti raised his doubts about the current form of Pérez and Bottas during a recent podcast appearance. “To be honest, I think they’re both a bit rusty,” said the former world champion. “They’ve both been out of the cockpit for at least one season. With the new package and everything that comes with it, they’re still being a bit cautious. They mainly want to participate and not burden the team with unnecessary extra work.”
No flawless start
Pérez, however, completely disagreed with that assessment and stated that he was back on pace immediately after his comeback. “I think I can be quite satisfied with my performance,” the Mexican told the press in Japan. “After my return, I was back up to speed within a few days and I think I’m in top form in terms of driving.” However, Pérez acknowledges that his season so far has been anything but flawless. In multiple sessions he suffered damage, including a collision with Bottas in Shanghai.
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Nevertheless, Pérez remains positive about his own performance and points mainly to the circumstances. “To be honest, I think we performed at a very high level. I found my weekend in Melbourne particularly strong. My first qualifying was also good. In the race, however, we faced very different scenarios. We suffered a lot of damage, so it was certainly not easy.” On China, he added: “Shanghai was not an easy weekend and I suffered a lot of damage during the race. As a result, I couldn’t, let’s say, complete a full weekend.”
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