Now, that is how you time an announcement. As The Race reports, Sergio Perez has locked down a contract extension with Formula 1's newest team Cadillac that keeps him on board all the way through to the end of the decade. The deal was made official on the very eve of his home race, the Mexican Grand Prix, cementing the team's commitment to the veteran.
Perez and his fellow veteran team-mate Valtteri Bottas originally arrived at the upstart F1 team for this season on multi-year deals that were not thought to stretch past 2027. Unlike Bottas, Perez's seat for next year was never truly in doubt, and this new agreement pushes his tenure until at least 2029, a timeline confirmed to include the 2029 season itself.
The timing lines up with a massive milestone for the machine, as Perez is set to record his 300th F1 start this weekend. That makes him just the seventh driver in history to hit that mark. If he sees out this new contract as advertised, the coming years will see him climb past Jenson Button, Michael Schumacher, Rubens Barrichello, and Kimi Raikkonen to claim third on the all-time starts leaderboard, leaving only Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton ahead of him. By 2029, it will mark his 18th season in the sport at the age of 39.
"Building a competitive team in F1 is a long-term journey, and securing Checo's talent and leadership gives us the continuity and commitment we need to build on the strong foundation established in our first year," said team CEO Dan Towriss.
Neither Cadillac driver has actually scored points this year yet—Perez did cross the line 10th in Monaco only to lose it to a post-race time penalty—but Perez has clearly separated himself from Bottas on raw performance. He holds a marginal edge in qualifying and a much more pronounced advantage in race pace. Bottas has argued that the team's inevitable teething troubles in their first year under a particular new set of regulations meant the machinery wasn't entirely consistent across both garages for a fair comparison.
Unfortunately for Bottas, Cadillac's swift extension for Perez suggests they view things differently, especially after it emerged last weekend that the team is not yet willing to commit to Bottas for 2027 or beyond. Alternative options for a future team-mate are already being mooted, including development driver Colton Herta, Frederik Vesti, and Yuki Tsunoda.
