Liam Lawson’s performances for Red Bull at the start of the F1 2025 season have made Sergio Perez “look very, very good” in hindsight.

That is the claim of 1978 F1 World Champion Mario Andretti, who has dropped a fresh hint that Perez is on the new Cadillac F1 team’s wishlist for the F1 2026 season.

Sergio Perez looking ‘very good’ in light of Liam Lawson’s Red Bull woes

Lawson was signed as Perez’s replacement for the F1 2025 campaign after the latter endured a disastrous 2024, failing to score a podium after the fifth race of the last season as Red Bull slipped to a disappointing third in the Constructors’ Championship.

However, Lawson himself has found himself replaced after a poor start to the new season with Red Bull replacing the New Zealander with Yuki Tsunoda ahead of this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix.

Tsunoda’s debut at Suzuka will see him become Max Verstappen’s third team-mate in the last four races stretching back to the 2024 season finale in Abu Dhabi, Perez’s last appearance for Red Bull.

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Perez, the most successful Mexican driver in F1 history with six victories to his name, is understood to be targeting a return to F1 as soon as next season with the new Cadillac F1 outfit emerging as a potential option.

Having seen their Formula 1 entry application approved earlier this month, Cadillac F1 are believed to be hopeful of pairing an American driver with an experienced F1 racer for their debut season in 2026.

And Andretti, who joined Cadillac F1 as an adviser last year, has dropped a huge hint that Perez is on the team’s radar, suggesting that Lawson’s recent woes at Red Bull have put Perez’s struggles across 2023/24 into context.

Asked about the possibility of a deal with Perez, Andretti told the ESPN Racing podcast: “He is an option. He could be an option. Of course he could be an option.

“All I can say is that Liam Lawson is making Checo look very, very good.”

Andretti went on to imply that two other drivers are competing with Perez for Cadillac’s second seat, with IndyCar star Colton Herta widely regarded as the leading candidate to become the team’s American-born choice.

He said: “I wish I could tell you, but this is something we’re keeping secret ourselves because we don’t want to get our hopes up in some areas where it might not happen.

“So I think it’s very important that we keep this between us until a final decision is made.

“There’s a lot of [drivers] in the US, but because of licensing and everything else there’s definitely not too many options [for an American driver].

“But the second driver, the second seat, will definitely be an experienced driver that could be available.

“And we all know that the selection in that sense is pretty clear.

“There could be three drivers to choose from. Three drivers, realistically, to choose from. And I’m not going to tell you which ones.”

Valtteri Bottas, the 10-time race winner, is likely to emerge as a rival to Perez for the second Cadillac F1 seat having also lost his place on the grid at the end of last season.

Bottas has returned to Mercedes as the team’s reserve driver for the F1 2025 season with the target of reclaiming a place on the grid next year.

Meanwhile, Bottas’s former Sauber team-mate Zhou Guanyu is also thought to be a contender due to his links to Ferrari and Cadillac F1 team principal Graeme Lowdon, who has served as the Chinese driver’s manager over recent years.

Cadillac F1 announced last December that they will compete with customer Ferrari engines and gearboxes from F1 2026 before constructing their own power unit, which is likely to be ready for the start of the 2028 season.

Zhou, who like Perez is known to bring considerable sponsorship funding, was recently unveiled as Ferrari’s reserve driver for F1 2025, with the 25-year-old open about his hopes of returning to a race seat in 2026.

Perez has said little publicly since the news of his Red Bull exit at the end of last year, revealing in January that he would spend the first six months of 2025 mulling over his future before deciding if he wanted to continue his racing career.

In an update last week, Jimmy Morales, the boss of long-term Perez sponsors Escuderia Telmex, revealed that the 35-year-old is keen on mounting an F1 comeback.

He said: “We talked to everyone and started to see their plans and if they have any room for Checo.

“The important thing is that he’s interested. It’s peace of mind, the ability to focus on your work. There are many things to consider in order to perform at your best.

“That’s what we’re looking for for Checo.

“Checo does not need to return to racing, he has already done everything he should have done in his career.

“But if he does it, it will be because he wants to.

“He is very competitive, we just need to find a project that interests him and where he can return and shine.”

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