Sergio Perez made a bold claim after the Spanish Grand Prix: his Cadillac had the pace to match Alexander Albon's Williams. Despite retiring with a water leak, Perez found plenty of positives at the Madring circuit.
“I was pretty much the same pace as Albon all the way through,” Perez said. “That's the most positive thing of the weekend. We were with them since lap one. I think we were actually faster than Albon on the second stint.”
The data backs him up. Both drivers ran the same strategy: medium tyres in the first stint, then hards after the virtual safety car. In the first stint, Perez was 0.403s slower per lap. But on the hard compound, the Mexican was 0.351s quicker per lap—until his technical issue and blue flags cost him time. The sample is small (11 and 8 laps), yet consistent.
Across the garage, Valtteri Bottas was far from happy. The Finn finished at the back and lamented the car's poor degradation. “We know we need to improve. The car is still not robust enough, and we need to make it a lot faster,” he said. “The deg today highlights how much we're lacking.”
Reliability remains a concern. Cadillac has suffered 11 retirements/non-starts in 2026—fewer than Aston Martin (15) but more than Williams (7). It's a big task for the new team.
Although points are still elusive, Perez's performance in Spain offers hope that Cadillac can fight in the midfield. If reliability improves, they could challenge established teams. “We just have to keep this momentum going,” Perez insisted.
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