Sergio Perez Extends Cadillac Deal Through 2029 on the Eve of His 300th Start at Home

Sergio Perez has signed on with Cadillac through 2029, and the timing is the whole story. The announcement came on Wednesday in Mexico City, four days before Perez makes his 300th Formula 1 start at his home race, in front of the crowd that has followed him since he left Guadalajara as a teenager. Cadillac is still chasing its first point in its debut season, its second seat is still undecided, and its lead driver has just told the world he is staying for at least three more years. That is a vote of confidence in a project that has not yet scored, delivered on the biggest week of the team’s short life.

What exactly did Perez sign?

A multi-year extension that runs through at least 2029, Reuters reports, announced by Cadillac on Wednesday ahead of the Mexico City Grand Prix. The distinction between “through 2029” and “until 2029” is worth getting right: the deal commits Perez for at least three more years beyond this season, covering 2027, 2028 and 2029. Sky Sports reports his original Cadillac contract was understood to expire at the end of 2027, so the extension adds two years to a stay that was already expected to continue into next season. Perez joined the American team from day one for its 2026 debut, after a year away from the grid following his departure from Red Bull, and RACER notes there were enquiries from other teams about his availability in the summer. Cadillac moved before the home race to make sure the answer was no.

Why announce it on show-run day?

Because Wednesday was already Perez’s day in Mexico City. He drove a Cadillac on Paseo de la Reforma in a public show run in the morning, open to the public and streamed online, the Mexico City preview reporting confirms, and the contract news turned a celebration into a statement. The show run marked the milestone; the extension gives the milestone a future. It also steals the weekend’s narrative from the other storyline sharing it, the title arithmetic that could crown Kimi Antonelli on Sunday, after Antonelli took pole at Austin and kept it after a stewards investigation and then won the race. Antonelli needs only a ninth-place finish to clinch, but Cadillac made Wednesday about its own driver, and about a project that now has a face attached to it through 2029.

What did Perez and Towriss actually say?

Perez framed it as belief, not obligation. “Joining Cadillac Formula 1 Team from day one was a project I truly believed in, and extending my commitment feels like a natural continuation of this chapter,” he said in a statement carried by Formula 1. “Building a Formula 1 team from the ground up takes time, relentless work and patience, but the progress we are making together is incredibly rewarding. There is still a lot of work ahead of us and I am fully committed for the next three years.” He thanked Towriss, General Motors chief Mark Reuss, TWG Motorsports and General Motors, and closed with a promise to the fans: “I won’t let you down. Let’s keep pushing!”

Towriss matched the tone. “On the eve of a special weekend in Mexico City, we’re thrilled to announce that Checo will remain an integral part of Cadillac Formula 1 Team for years to come,” he said. “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.” The word doing the work in both statements is continuity. A new team that changes its lead driver every year is not building anything; a new team that keeps its six-time race winner through 2029 is telling sponsors, engineers and fans that the plan survives contact with a scoreless first season.

What happens to Valtteri Bottas?

That is the question the announcement deliberately leaves open. RACER reports Cadillac has ongoing uncertainty over who will partner Perez in 2027, with Bottas under review after a disappointing campaign and American test driver Colton Herta prepared as a potential debut option. PlanetF1 puts it the same way: one seat confirmed, questions remaining over the second. The contrast is the story. Perez, at 36, has just been locked in through 2029. Bottas, his team-mate and fellow veteran, has not. Herta, meanwhile, is already embedded in the programme, with a fifth FP1 run in Mexico this weekend. Cadillac has settled its leadership and left its second seat as the winter’s argument, which is a familiar shape for a new team: keep the known quantity, keep the options open, and let the second driver market come to you.

Does this clash with what Perez said about retirement?

It complicates it, and that is worth saying plainly rather than smoothing over. PlanetF1 notes Perez had recently told Mexican media that the end of his career could be closer than anticipated, that the project required more time than he initially imagined, and that he was much closer to the end than the beginning, held back partly by wanting to be more present for his children as they grow. A contract through 2029 does not cancel those feelings. It does mean the end he described is now scheduled, at the earliest, three seasons away, and that he has chosen to sign for it anyway. Drivers say one thing about the future when they are tired in October and another when their home crowd is waiting on Sunday. The contract is the more reliable document.

What does the weekend hold now?

A milestone, a title race and a first point, in that order of ceremony. Perez’s 300th start comes on Sunday at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, where he will join a club of seven drivers with 300 starts, and where Cadillac will get its latest chance to score after 18 scoreless races. The Austin weekend that preceded it was already a talking point for Alonso’s blast at backmarker driving standards, and Mexico gives the whole grid a quick rematch at altitude, where cooling and tyre preparation punish the unprepared. Perez has said he expects Cadillac to be competitive by mid-2027. The extension through 2029 gives him the time to find out whether he is right, and gives Cadillac a driver who has already waited a year on the sidelines once and is not in a hurry to do it again.