Heartbreak for Sergio Pérez and Cadillac at the Monaco Grand Prix

For a brief moment under the Monaco sun, the team at Cadillac was celebrating their first point in Formula 1.

But the celebration was short-lived, as a post-race penalty handed down to veteran driver Sergio Pérez dropped him down the finishing order, and out of tenth place.

Pérez, F1’s “King of the Streets,” looked to have Cadillac in the points for the first time in team history has he finished a provisional tenth following a chaotic Monaco Grand Prix. But the veteran driver was under investigation by race stewards for a false start during a late-stage restart, and in the wake of a hearing with the officials, he was given a ten-second penalty, which dropped him from P10 to P15.

Even with the decision, Pérez found a silver lining after the race, noting that he and the team finished tenth on the track.

“An amazing thing for the team,” said Pérez in the team’s post-race report. “It was such a very tricky race out there with the vibrations – at some points we thought about retiring the car as it was so hard – but we didn’t give up, we kept pushing, kept our head down and the race presented us with another opportunity to go for it.

“I had a poor restart but a tremendous first lap and overtook a lot of cars and in the end we finished P10 on the road. It was a shame with the penalty as we didn’t get any benefit from the restart, but that’s how it is – it doesn’t detract from the result today.”

Cadillac boss Graeme Lowdon called the finish an “incredible testament” to the entire organization.

“To finish 10th on the road is an incredible testament to the resolve of the team to keep fighting until the end,” said Lowdon. “After the red flag restart, Checo drove fantastically well to make up several positions on the road – it was a real shame that the penalty dropped us back as he fought like he was going for the win. Valtteri [Bottas] had to retire the car, but his luck will change and it will come to him. I want to thank absolutely everyone in the team for all of their hard work. We’ve got some real momentum behind us now and we can’t wait to get back on track.”

The penalty did benefit another team seeking its first point of the year, as Fernando Alonso was promoted to P10, putting Aston Martin in the points for the first time in 2026.

While Cadillac saw its first point slip away from them in Monaco, the day they can truly celebrate a top-ten finish looks to be on the horizon.