Sergio Perez Refutes Rustiness Claims, Aims for Midfield

0:00It's April 4th. This is F1 News today, AI-powered stories from inside your team. Our team, Sergio Perez, is clapping back at Mario Andredi's claim that he's rusty after jumping back into Formula One. The Mexican driver got the boot from Red Bull at the end of 2024 after a rough year. Took a break and now races for newcomer Cadillac. In 2026, Cadillac starting from the back, two to three seconds off the leaders with tech glitches, but they're holding a spot ahead of Aston Martin. Perez has zero points through the first three races, which everyone saw coming for a debut team. Andredi, the 78 champion namesake for Cadillac's chassis, said Perez and teammate Baltari Bottas need time to shake off the layoff with. All the new gear. But Perez insists he's driving at a top level, feeling good from day one in Melbourne quals despite race damage in Australia and China. Here's the Duppa Japan last weekend, where he stayed on the lead lap for the first time

1:00and cut his Q1 gap to the pole to just 2.1, 7.1 seconds. He spotted midfield cars like Williams and Alpine close enough to chase. With an April break before Miami-Saudi and Bahrain got scrapped over Middle East issues, Perez eyes a major upgrade to crack the midfield pack. The team's building race by race and he's ready to push.