Cadillac has revealed that it spoke to key figures at Red Bull, and probed Sergio Perez himself, to help bat away any scepticism it had about his potential following a troubled 2024 Formula 1 campaign.
While Perez's vast experience always made him a frontrunner to secure a spot with the new Cadillac team, which has now been made official, the American-owned squad has admitted that there were some early reservations.
In particular, it wanted some answers to help better understand just why Perez's final season with Red Bull had fallen apart so much that he ended up parting ways with the squad mid-contract.
There were also questions about whether a whole year completely away from F1 - in contrast to future team-mate Valtteri Bottas's season as Mercedes reserve - would hinder him from finding his best when he returned.
Cadillac's F1 CEO Dan Towriss has shed light on how a combination of conversations with those who had worked with Perez, as well as face-to-face talks with the Mexican after this year's British Grand Prix last month, wiped away all the concerns the team had and left it in no doubt that he was the ideal candidate.
Speaking to selected media, including The Race, about the decision-making process surrounding Perez, Towriss said: "Well, certainly there was a lot of conversation around the gap - having been out for a full year.
"When you look at Valtteri, he's at the track every weekend, right? And so it was important for us to know where Sergio is at, in terms of his desire to be back in F1 and also his belief in our project, in leading the Cadillac F1 team.
"But we couldn't have been more pleased with his response. In our meetings with him, he outperformed, I guess you could say.
"We had questions. We had scepticism around some of these things, and he answered all of our questions, and passed our tests, I guess, with flying colours. So we were pleased to put him forward."
Towriss says he and the other key decision makers at Cadillac, which included GM president Mark Reuss and team principal Graeme Lowdon, went quite far into the details to better understand if both Bottas and Perez still had the capabilities to deliver to their best in F1.
And having dug through the state of Sauber in 2024 after Bottas endured a difficult season there, the team also approached senior figures at Red Bull to try to better comprehend why things had not clicked for Perez against Max Verstappen over the second half of last year.
Towriss said: "We spent a lot of time looking at past experience and kind of what the state of the world was at Sauber, and how Valtteri performed with the car that's there. Plus kind of qualifying performance versus race performance.
"Then, in particular, probably a more complicated scenario was Red Bull, right? That's been an interesting kind of saga to watch.
"A team that's really built around one driver, but has two, and clearly none of the other drivers have fared well in that second seat, from that standpoint.
"So we did take a lot of time to talk to people at Red Bull and get information and feedback.
"The process was lengthy and thorough from that standpoint. And again, what that means is, having looked through all that, we feel very good about Checo, his desire to be in F1, to make a statement, to show the performance that he has, and put that last season or so from Red Bull in the rear view mirror."
Sponsor factor
As well as Perez bringing experience and speed to Cadillac, one of the other benefits is commercial – with him known to have loyal personal sponsors.
Cadillac insists that any gains it has on this front are an added bonus, rather than being the reason for picking him.
Reuss said: "The market in Mexico is a big deal for General Motors and, frankly, as is North America. So they're great, great partners, and have been for many, many years.
"We sell a lot of cars in Mexico, so certainly, General Motors' presence there is complementary. I would say the fanbase there is absolutely enthusiastic. So those are side benefits."
Towriss added: "I think both Checo and Valtteri have a very strong following from a commercial standpoint, and from a sponsorship standpoint, from being on the F1 circuit for many, many years. But that really wasn't a factor. It was their experience."
