When everything seemed to be in Sergio Pérez‘s favor with regard to his possible return to Formula 1 in 2026 with Cadillac, this option could be shaken up. Let’s remember that the Mexican driver is off the track, taking a sabbatical, forced by the circumstances of his departure from Red Bull at the end of the 2025 season.
Sergio Pérez’s only possible route back to F1 with the Cadillac team is complicated
In fact, his replacement, Liam Lawson, has also been left out of Red Bull after having two forgettable races in the Australian Grand Prix and the Chinese Grand Prix. Now the 24-year-old Yuki Tsunoda has officially taken Lawson’s place for a few days.
Speaking to Sergio Pérez, he himself confessed to the official Formula 1 channel that in this period of rest he had had many offers, even from Abu Dhabi, but he had reached a point in his career where he could only return to racing if there was an offer that really motivated him.
As such, and according to reports, Cadillac is interested in having an experienced driver for its F1 debut and the Mexican is therefore among the options, as Andretti revealed to ESPN Racing.
“The second seat will go to an experienced driver who may be available. And we all know that the selection in that respect is quite clear… you look out there at who’s available, you know, and it’s easy. You can see who has the most experience. Surely you want experience,” said the American.
Zhou is now seen as a better option for Cadillac than Sergio Pérez
However, and even so, another option has also emerged for the General Motors team, which will make its Formula 1 debut in 2026 as the new structure on the grid, number 11, making a total of 22 drivers in all.
This is where Guanyu Zhou comes in. Until 2024 he had been driving for the Kick-Sauber team, previously Alfa-Romeo and later Audi, since his debut in 2022. This year, the Chinese driver attended the Grand Prix from the Ferrari garage as a reserve driver. Stable. This didn’t stop him from taking selfies and giving media interviews… especially since Zhou now fancies himself as a serious candidate to return to F1 in 2026… and take the seat of ’11’.
In fact, the 25-year-old driver would be on the radar of Cadillac, which will join the grid next year and will therefore need to recruit two drivers. Due to his nationality, the former Sauber driver – and now Ferrari, which will be Cadillac’s future engine supplier – already has an important advantage over the American manufacturer, given the importance of the Chinese market.
The importance of the Chinese market, key
But Guanyu Zhou’s main asset is his relationship with Graeme Lowdon, director of the Cadillac F1 team, who is none other than his manager. In addition, at the beginning of March, the British leader had recalled that he did an “exceptionally good job” of the Chinese driver during his years at Sauber.
However, and although his relationship with Graeme Lowdon could facilitate a rapprochement with the Cadillac clan and leave Sergio Pérez without a seat, Guanyu Zhou says that this has no impact on his immediate future. “I am very happy, of course, that Graeme [Lowdon] is the director of Cadillac, but that does not mean that he is permanently linked to the team because, ultimately, the general decision is made by different people. I am currently focusing on Ferrari,” he said.
Everything therefore points to one option: Sergio Pérez could lose such an important place on the grid again. The truth is that, even if Cadillac is interested, it is not so clear that the Guadalajara-born driver is in a position to accept a drive that will probably be the last on the grid. Especially since, after 10 years as a factory driver, he has already achieved one of his goals: winning a Grand Prix on six occasions.
However, it is worth remembering the words of his father Antonio at the end of last year. “No, ‘Checo Pérez’ is finished in Formula 1. He said it himself and to be honest I no longer have any contact with anything to do with Formula 1, and there is no more talk of it in my family,” his father explained.