Sergio Pérez, after a year off, is back on the Formula One grid in 2026, joining the new, 11th team, Cadillac F1 Team. In the past week, he and new teammate, Valtteri Bottas have done plenty of interviews, increasing media presence ahead of the upcoming season. On Sunday, Pérez appeared on a podcast with Oswaldo Trava in which he talked about his time at Red Bull Racing. Checo talked about the team’s failures, which highlight previous conversations about whether or not the second seat at Red Bull truly is cursed.

“Worst job in F1”

Pérez said that being the teammate of Max Verstappen is “the worst job in F1.” He talked about how Red Bull was the best team on the grid, saying that they had the capability of dominating the sport for the next 10 years. According to him, there was no winning scenario for him. If he were faster than Verstappen, that would create a tense atmosphere. When he was slower than him, then it’s a case of he isn’t performing. If both were off the pace, then everything was a problem. In the podcast, he also states he knew what he was up against. The youngest race winner in Formula One history, the golden boy of Red Bull, the future. It was never going to be easy, but Pérez was put in a position to fail the entire time.

Favouring one driver

With Verstappen being the golden boy of Red Bull, it was obvious that he had been favoured. Pérez opened up about the 2022–2024 season when he was constantly in hot water with the team. Car upgrades were fully favoured for Max, and he reiterated a previous statement made by former Team Principal Christian Horner, saying they raced with two cars because they had to in the regulations. Checo put it simply, “I was a distraction.”

He spoke about his growing lack of confidence in the car, which is something that was noticeable in 2020 for Alex Albon when he struggled next to Verstappen. The same can be said about Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda this past season. The Red Bull cars have always been built around Verstappen’s aggressive driving style, which is why the most competitive teammate he has ever had was Daniel Ricciardo. The two drove in extremely similar, aggressive ways. Late braking, doing everything to make the overtake happen. This did not work when Pérez, Lawson, Tsunoda, and Albon were all with the Milton Keynes outfit. You can’t solely build the car around one driver’s racing style. It eventually ended up in Red Bull, being called a ‘tractor’ by fans as the car was noticeably slow to begin the 2025 season, with Verstappen dragging it to the front.

New leadership in Milton Keynes

Red Bull has now seen a shake-up in leadership after Christian Horner was ousted as Team Principal and Laurent Mekies took over. Helmut Marko left his role as motorsport advisor after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The shift should bring in fairness between both drivers as Isack Hadjar makes the jump to Red Bull after an outstanding rookie year with Racing Bulls. Mekies will be looking to bring the team back to not only the World Drivers’ Championship, but also the Constructors’ Championship.