‘Rusty, me?’: Perez fires back at Andretti’s Cadillac claim

Sergio Perez isn’t taking lightly the suggestion that his return to Formula 1 with Cadillac has been anything less than sharp.

The six-time grand prix winner dismissed comments from F1 legend Mario Andretti that he and teammate Valtteri Bottas might be “a little bit rusty” after their year away from the grid.

The 1978 F1 world champion – a board member of the Cadillac F1 team – made the comment on a recent Drive to Wynn podcast after attending last month’s season opener in Melbourne.

“To be honest with you, I think they’re both just a little bit rusty,” Andretti remarked.

“They’ve both been out of the cockpit for at least one season. With the new package and everything else, they’re being very careful just to participate and not set anything back by maybe going out there and creating more work that’s needed.”

Checo fires back

At last weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix, Perez stood his ground, attributing his lack of points not to "rust," but to the brutal reality of racing a debutant car plagued in the openings round by technical gremlins and heavy in-race damage.

“To be honest I think we've been performing on a very high level,” the six-time grand prix winner insisted.

“I was very happy with my weekend in Melbourne, my first qualifying, I was quite happy with it. In the race we had very different scenarios, we had a lot of damage.

“So it hasn't been really straightforward. Shanghai wasn't a straightforward weekend, I had a lot of damage in the race.”

For Perez, the "pace" is already there; the "luck" simply hasn't followed.

“I haven't had a complete weekend let's say, but I think in terms of my performance I'm fairly happy with it. Coming back and straight away I was on the pace within a couple of days. I believe I'm in a good place in regards to driving.”

Seeing the checkered flag at Suzuka

Suzuka offered a glimmer of hope. For the first time in 2026, Perez finished on the lead lap and significantly slashed his qualifying deficit.

“It was quite interesting,” he noted. “When I was following – I was racing at the time the Williams, the Alpine – I could see that they're not too far away, they're just able to consistently keep finding pace and pace and pace.”

With a five-week break ahead due to Middle East race cancellations, the focus shifts to a massive upgrade package slated for Cadillac’s first home race of the year, in Miami.

• Read also: Andretti assesses Cadillac’s early struggles and driver progress

“It's clear that we need a second now and I really hope that we are bringing a big upgrade for Miami,” Perez added.

“I think that will be the biggest test for the team. We've been progressing every grand prix, this is the first grand prix that more or less everything has been straightforward, apart from the deployment issues I had yesterday, everything has been straightforward.

“So, yes, I really hope that we can make that step to be in the mix with the midfield.”

If Cadillac delivers the speed in Miami, Perez seems more than ready to prove that "rust" is the last thing on his mind.

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