Perez says Cadillac return proved Red Bull slump

Sergio Perez says his return with Cadillac has already convinced him that his difficult final spell at Red Bull was about circumstance, not fading ability, and that he remains “one of the best out there.”

Speaking in Monaco ahead of the Grand Prix, Perez said the contrast between his current level and the way his final Red Bull months were perceived has restored the confidence he lost during that period. “When you look at my last six months of Red Bull, you wouldn't think that I'm one of the best out there,” he said. But Perez argued that “when you understand the circumstances” and look at “the level of performance that I'm putting with my team,” “you realise that I'm one of the best out there.”

For Perez, the biggest shift has been mental. He said his struggles late in his Red Bull stint damaged his self-belief and pushed him into doubting himself as a driver. “It kind of hurts you on the confidence side,” he said, adding that difficult runs can leave a driver thinking, “maybe I'm the problem.” He described his early Cadillac races as “a great boost of confidence” and said proving his level to himself mattered more than changing outside opinion.

Perez pointed to his immediate speed when he got back in a car as the moment that sharpened that conclusion. After a Ferrari one-off outing, he said he was “up to speed within 10 laps after not driving anything,” which made him think “it must be the circumstances I was seeing.”

He said Cadillac’s last “three, four races” have reinforced that feeling. Looking at his level in “qualifying, race, race pace,” Perez said “the speed has been always there,” even if Cadillac is still far from a package that can regularly fight for points. In his view, that matters because drivers can be judged harshly when they are dealing with too many variables they cannot control, creating what he called a false impression that their talent has disappeared.

Perez stopped short of directly turning that into an attack on Red Bull, but he did little to hide the implication. When reporters suggested his remarks about drivers doubting themselves under difficult circumstances applied to Red Bull drivers, Perez smiled and replied, “Exactly,” before ending the exchange with: “Let's jump this one.”

That leaves Monaco with a clear message from Perez: his comeback has not changed his opinion of his talent, but it has restored the confidence he felt slipping away, and in a still-limited Cadillac that is the most important proof he could have found.