Ahead of Sergio Perez’s expected confirmation as a 2026 Cadillac F1 driver, his former sporting director Jonathan Wheatley says the Mexican driver will “get into the rhythm quickly” with the new team.

Formula 1 has officially confirmed Cadillac as the sport’s 11th team, the American outfit set to join the grid next season.

Sergio Perez to return to F1 with Cadillac?

But while Cadillac have announced many of the pieces to their F1 puzzle, one issue remains undecided – or at least unannounced – their F1 2026 driver line-up.

The team is said to be leaning towards six-time Grand Prix winner and former Red Bull driver Sergio Perez, who left the sport last season after being dropped by Red Bull.

But given that his replacement, Liam Lawson didn’t make it out of Q1 in his first three attempts in F1 2025, Cadillac advisor Mario Andretti admitted that it looked better for Perez.

“He is an option,” Andretti confirmed to ESPN. “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.”

F1 contracts: Made to be broken?

👉 Revealed: The six drivers out of contract at the end of the F1 2025 season

👉 F1 2026 driver line-up: Lewis Hamilton and other drivers already confirmed for 2026

He, however, would not share anything more on Cadillac’s potential thinking ahead of their first season in Formula 1.

But while some reports claim the team is expected to announce their line-up this weekend, PlanetF1.com understands no driver confirmations are expected this weekend, although sources have indicated yhat his signing is “likely”.

And Jonathan Wheatley, the former Red Bull sporting director turned Sauber team principal, would not be surprised if Perez was confirmed as driver.

“I think Checo is very suitable to come back and get into the rhythm quickly in a new team,” he told Formula.hu.

“Last year, he sat in one of the most difficult seats in F1, next to Max. When you face a competitor like this, you have to constantly look in the mirror and rebuild yourself, but maybe that’s not enough. You have to constantly look in the mirror to ask yourself new questions.

“If you look back, you can see that he struggled a little bit more with the car than Max, and it seems that this is the case at Red Bull this year as well.

“He understands these things very well and I have always thought that he always gave the engineers very, very clear, easy to understand and simple explanations and feedback on the behaviour of the car. Checo is a very professional, very talented and of course fast driver who was great to work with.”

He also believes Perez, despite his F1 2024 woes, has the mental strength to the cope with F1 struggles.

“That’s the most important thing, mental strength and self-confidence. If a driver is mentally strong, confident enough and drives to the maximum of his abilities, I think you can skip some time because he can be fast again after returning. Mental strength and self-confidence, these are the most important things.

“He always surprised me by being able to rebuild himself and come out of each setback stronger. He has an incredible sense of that and he can handle the team very well, and of course the team reacts well to that.”

Read next: Ecclestone makes bold Mick Schumacher statement as new F1 2026 line-up opens up