Sergio Perez has warned Cadillac to avoid being left behind as Aston Martin appears to have made a breakthrough following a difficult start to the 2026 season. The Mexican driver’s comments come after Aston Martin showed signs of improvement at the Miami Grand Prix, where both of its cars out-qualified both Cadillacs for the first time this season.
Cadillac had slotted into 10th place in the pecking order at the campaign’s outset, benefiting from Aston Martin’s struggles with vibrations and a general lack of performance from its Honda power units. However, the Honda-powered team appears to have turned a corner in Miami, finding solutions to the vibration issues that plagued its early-season running.
Aston Martin’s Miami Showing
Aston Martin brought no upgrades to Miami, yet Honda believes it has found effective countermeasures for the vibrations that hampered performance. The team is now focused on adding performance to capitalize on the more stable platform.
In the Sprint race, Fernando Alonso finished ahead of Perez. Both Aston Martins then out-qualified both Cadillacs for Sunday’s grand prix — a first for the season. Alonso went on to finish 15th in the main race after a race-long battle with Perez, who reflected positively on the duel despite the competitive threat it represented.
“We had fun with them, especially fighting with Fernando. It is always a great thing because he is very aggressive, but very fair,” Perez said.
Cadillac’s Urgency to Find Performance
Perez acknowledged that while Cadillac is heading in the right direction, the team struggles when tire degradation sets in, allowing midfield rivals to pull away with stronger pace.
“I think we’re heading in the right direction, but as soon as the degradation kicks in, we can be with the midfield, but they are just able to pick the pace up quite a lot,” Perez explained. “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.”
The Cadillac driver emphasized that the motivation isn’t solely about Aston Martin’s progress, but rather about improving across all areas of the team’s operations. He pointed to a strong pit stop during the Miami race as evidence that the team can execute at a high level when everything comes together.
“It is great motivation, but it is not about them. It is just about improving ourselves, weekend after weekend, in all areas. The pit-stop [in the race] was amazing, it was a really good job by the team, which shows we can do stuff, so we have to be like that in a lot of different departments in the coming weekends,” Perez said.
Looking Ahead
With Aston Martin now showing signs of resurgence and planning to add performance on top of its vibration fixes, Cadillac faces a critical period in its debut F1 season. The American manufacturer entered Formula 1 in 2026 as the sport’s 11th team, and avoiding a drift to the back of the grid will require rapid development and consistent execution across all departments.
The next rounds of the championship will reveal whether Cadillac can respond to Aston Martin’s threat and establish itself as a genuine midfield competitor, or whether the team will need to fight to stay ahead of its Honda-powered rival as both organizations navigate the challenges of F1’s new technical era.