Sergio Perez Reveals Cadillac's Next F1 Target After Japanese GP Milestone

Sergio Perez is hoping that Cadillac's first Formula 1 upgrade package will see the American team begin to challenge the midfield pack at the Miami Grand Prix.

The TWG-backed outfit made a major step in its fledgling F1 journey at the Japanese Grand Prix with a weekend largely devoid of issues, following two understandably up-and-down events in Australia and China.

At the Suzuka Circuit, both Perez and teammate Valtteri Bottas outqualified the struggling Aston Martins of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll, albeit 1.2s slower than next-best driver Oliver Bearman in the Haas.

Positive steps for Cadillac

Sergio Perez, Cadillac, Japanese GP 2026 — XPB / Cadillac F1 Team

Yet in the race, Perez added another milestone to Cadillac's early-season list as he finished 17th, ahead of Alonso and, crucially, on the lead lap.

Cadillac is aiming to introduce an update package for the first of three home races on the 22-race calendar in Miami, which Perez hopes will see another step forward.

“Today was our strongest race so far this year," said Perez. "We’ve made a lot of progress in a short space of time, and we can be happy to get two cars past the finish yet again. Yesterday we had some issues with the deployment and today it felt like we were on top of it.

"We were clearly faster than Aston Martin and we can see our pace is getting stronger. Hopefully, the upgrades we bring to Miami will put us into the mix a lot more.”

Bottas also finished the race with little trouble but wasn't able to keep Alonso's Aston Martin behind, finishing a lap down on race winner Kimi Antonelli. “Another double finish is really good for the team," said the Finn.

Suzuka, signed and delivered.

Finding our stride with some great takeaways from this weekend. pic.twitter.com/vsnCivLa2J
— Cadillac Formula 1 Team (@Cadillac_F1) March 29, 2026

"I was lacking a bit of performance, which meant I struggled to challenge the Aston Martins today, so it’s something we need to look at. We tried a different strategy by starting with the hard tire, but unfortunately, it didn’t seem to work.

"However, throughout the whole weekend it was much cleaner with fewer issues. We’ve learned a lot that we can use to improve for the next race. We now head into this gap in the calendar after our first three races with the opportunity to analyze everything learned so far and spend more time developing the car.

"The mood is good in the team as we fully focus on preparations for our first home Grand Prix in Miami.”

F1 is on an enforced five-week break after the Japanese GP, following the cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian events, originally scheduled for April.