‘I have no doubt about his pace’ – Jonathan Wheatley insists Sergio Perez can still deliver in F1 amid Cadillac reports

Sergio Perez was born with pure velocity and nonetheless has what it takes to ship in System 1, in line with his former Crimson Bull Sporting Director Jonathan Wheatley.

Perez and Crimson Bull agreed to part ways on the finish of final season, having spent 4 campaigns collectively, with the Mexican taking a while out to evaluate his choices earlier than deciding he needed a return to F1 if he might discover the correct undertaking.

The 35-year-old has been in touch with a number of groups, together with newcomers Cadillac – who’re making their F1 debut subsequent season – and Alpine.

Cadillac, who’re led by Group Principal Graeme Lowdon, are evaluating their drivers for subsequent season, with the American outfit believed to be edging in direction of taking expertise.

Perez has that in bucketfuls and is without doubt one of the favourites for a seat – together with Valtteri Bottas – with the Mexican having scored six wins, 39 factors and a runner-up spot within the Drivers’ Standings in 2023.

When requested about what he fabricated from Perez’s ambitions to return to the game subsequent season, Wheatley advised F1.com: “Firstly, I actually loved working with Checo. He is an awesome character, nice angle to life, full cease.

“I’ve little doubt about his tempo and his velocity. It has been pure because the starting.

“He put in some large drives at my former workforce and I do not assume it is a lot of a barrier that he is had a little bit of time without work between driving a System 1 automobile as a result of when you understand how to do this, you understand how to do it.”

Perez left Red Bull regardless of having two years nonetheless left on his contract following a troublesome season the place he was comfortably outperformed by workforce mate and reigning World Champion Max Verstappen.

Since his departure, Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda have struggled to get efficiency out of the automobile in that seat – which have gone some solution to placing Perez’s struggles in 2024 into context.

Wheatley spoke extremely of former Sauber and Pressure India racer Perez’s capability to galvanise a workforce, highlighting how he pushed folks contained in the squad, together with Wheatley, to be higher throughout their time at Crimson Bull.

“I spent plenty of time with him early on as a result of I needed to get to know him and I needed him to regulate to the workforce,” added Wheatley. “What I actually favored was he pushed me in my sporting function – pushed me very, very onerous.

“He made me query whether or not I used to be placing each little bit of effort in, not that he was criticising however he would problem you in a optimistic manner and I loved it.

“I believe it helped encourage me to change into higher at my job and I might wish to assume possibly it was reciprocal and the work that we did collectively made him higher at his.”

He added: “He is totally targeted on efficiency and what would you like from a driver?”

Cadillac are persevering with to judge their choices for his or her two race seats in 2026, with sources suggesting they’ve shrunk their shortlist all the way down to only a handful. Talks with related events will proceed within the coming weeks.